By Genalyn Kabiling The government will lift the travel ban on China and its territories over the coronavirus threat if the World Health Organization (WHO) makes such a recommendation, Malacañang said Tuesday. Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo
(OPS / MANILA BULLETIN) Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the government was merely looking after the safety and protection of Filipinos when it imposed travel restrictions on travelers coming from China, Macau, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Panelo made the remarks after the health authorities included Taiwan in the travel ban as a precaution against the spread of the new coronavirus. "We always follow the recommendation of the World Health Organization," he said in a Palace press briefing. "So if the World Health Organization says there is a need for lifting of the ban in any part of those already announced who have travel ban, then we will, I suppose, do so," he added. For now, Panelo said the temporary travel ban on these areas will stay "until the World Health Organization makes any announcement and the Department of Health recommends to the President." He said such travel restrictions are "always for the safety of our countrymen." The health department recently announced that the travel ban includes Taiwan because the WHO considers it part of China. The Philippines earlier prohibited foreign travelers from China and its special administrative regions from entering the country to guard against the coronavirus. Filipinos are also restricted from traveling to these places for the meantime. "The travel ban, I understand, that included China was the basis of the World Health Organization including Taiwan as part of China. And since there’s a ban on China, necessarily, Taiwan being part of China is included," Panelo said. Taiwan has reportedly appealed to the Philippines to lift the travel ban on its citizens.