The mandatory wearing of face masks indoors is set to be lifted and will be made voluntary all over the country.
Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco announced this on Tuesday, Oct. 25, as President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. is expected to issue an executive order, declaring the use of face masks indoors as voluntary.
"As a result of the Cabinet meeting this morning, it was agreed that the President would be issuing an executive order for the IATF (interagency task force) recommendation to make indoor mask wearing also voluntary all over the Philippines with the few exceptions," Frasco said in a Palace briefing.
Mask wearing, however, will still be required in public transportation, medical transportation, and in medical facilities.
Frasco added that mask wearing is still highly encouraged for unvaccinated individuals, persons with comorbidities, as well as senior citizens.
"Generally the direction of the Marcos administration is to lift the remainder of travel restrictions into the Philippines and that includes easing of our mask mandates to allow our country to be at par with our ASEAN neighbors who have long liberalized their mask mandates," the Tourism chief said.
The announcement came following the Cabinet meeting presided over by Marcos on Tuesday morning.
Travel restrictions
In addition, the government also intends to remove the remainder of Covid-19 stringent protocols such as the requirement of pre-departure testing into the Philippines in the form of RT-PCR.
Unvaccinated foreigners will be allowed entry into the country by presenting an antigen test taken 24 hours before the departure or an option of taking an antigen test upon arrival in the Philippines.
It has been earlier announced that the One Health pass will be replaced with electronic-Arrival (eArrival) card.
Frasco said the eArrival interface is more user-friendly and has a reduced number of questions needed to be answered by travelers.
She said that during the meeting it was clarified that "the filling out of the eArrival card would not be made mandatory as a prerequisite to boarding, in other words, you can fill out the eArrival card at your own convenience prior to the departure or upon arrival."
It was also agreed that special lanes would be provided in the airport for those that have not had the opportunity to fill out the eArrival card.
"The overarching direction of the Marcos administration is to allow our country to convey an openness and readiness to the world to receive tourists and investments so that we would give our fellow Filipinos an opportunity to regain all the livelihood and losses that were incurred during the pandemic," Frasco said.
"We are optimistic that all of these restrictions being lifted by the Marcos admin that this can only redound to the benefit of the lives of millions of Filipinos that serve to benefit as well from the invigoration of the tourism industry," she added.