The government is urged to allow flexible arrival caps for arriving overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the country in order not to overwhelm embassies abroad due to stranded nationals.

Non-profit advocacy group Go Negosyo appealed to the government on Thursday, Dec. 23, "to exercise flexibility in its caps on arriving passengers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA)."

Go Negosyo founder and Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion argued that many overseas Filipinos are flying home for family reunions this December and in January 2022 "but arrival caps on arriving passengers might lead to stranded OFWs, and overwhelm Philippine embassies and diplomatic posts abroad, especially in OFW-heavy countries such as those in the Middle East."

Concepcion's proposal came after learning that frontline teams of the Philippine Airlines (PAL) in several countries have been receiving "a constant stream of requests from OFWs and other Filipinos, begging for a chance to come home and see their families or attend to urgent matters, all the way up to January,”

Philippine Airlines Senior VP for strategy and planning Dexter Lee said they "have the planes and the crew ready to fly them."

The flag carrier estimates that about 2,500 passengers, mostly OFWs, are affected, and the number could rise if PAL is required to cancel or adjust more flights.

“The pandemic kept families away from each other, but as rates of vaccination increase in the country and lower cases are being reported, it opens up opportunities for loved ones to reunite. We should at least give our kababayans this chance,” Concepcion said.

The government earlier imposed a quota of only 4,000 arriving passengers per day at the NAIA to prevent the entry and spread of the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

This, according to Concepcion, has led to forced cancellations of many inbound flights and prevented OFWs abroad from heading home this Christmas.

“We are not asking to lift the arrival caps,” Lee clarified. “What we are asking is some cooperation with the airlines to maximize the cap from where it is today. For example, we can exclude non-OFWs from the cap since they book their own hotel rooms anyway,” he said.

It was explained that the proposal is in response to reports of a bottleneck resulting in a shortage of hotel rooms in Metro Manila meant specifically for returning OFWs. The shortage resulted in flight cancellations and affected OFWs who had already booked their flights.

Concepcion stressed that the Philippines "should have the confidence and foresight to increase our arrival quotas" as the country has the resources in place to guard against Omicron without afflicting returning Filipinos.

“We have established solid quarantine and testing protocols for arriving passengers that effectively screen out any community transmission of Omicron and other COVID variants from arriving travelers,” he said.

He further suggested that airlines can work with Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) in sourcing more hotel rooms to accommodate as many OFWs as possible.