CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – The provincial government here announced the suspension of the repatriation assistance under its “Balik Pinas, Balik Pampanga” program for returning Kapampangans from the 27 countries flagged by the national government for the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) variant.
In a message on the provincial government’s Facebook page, Governor Dennis Pineda encouraged all Kabalens enrolled in the program to follow protocol to minimize transmission of the new variant.
He said all Kapampangan overseas Filipinos (OFs) and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), who were enrolled in the “Balik Pinas, Balik Pampanga” program, but are coming from the 27 countries flagged as having the new COVID-19 variant, will no tbe able to avail of the services under the program.
These include the benefit of being fetched from the airport, the conduct of free swab test, and facilitation of entry into quarantine facility.
Pineda said these benefits will instead be shoulded by the national government’s “One Stop Shop for Management of Returning Overseas Filipinos” staring January 8.
"Ito po ay isasagawa para masiguro ng national government na matutupad ang mga stringent protocols upang maiwasan ang pagpasok at pagkalat ng bagong strain ng COVID-19 sa ating bansa,'' he said.
(All these are being implemented to make sure that the all stringent protocols set by the national government will be followed, and that no one with the new variant would be able to enter the country and spread it)
The public advisory on entry restrictions prohibits inbound travel from countries with new variant of COVID-19 pursuant to the Resolution no. 92 of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF)
These countries were United Kingdom, Ireland, Japan, Australia, Israel, The Netherlands, Hongkong (SAR), Switzerland, France, Spain, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Lebanon, Singapore, Sweden, South Korea, South Africa, Denmark, Canada, Brazil, United States, Portugal, India, Finland, Norway and Jordan.
Pineda, meanwhile, assured Kabalen OFs and OFWs, who are not from these flagged countries, that they will continue to be served and assisted under the Balik Pinas program.