Senator Risa Hontiveros on Friday, Dec. 30 asked Malacañang to review and update its color-coded travel restrictions amid a surge of Covid-19 infections abroad.

‘’Sa patuloy na paglobo ng mga kaso ng COVID-19 sa mainland China at iba pang bansa, business as usual is not an option (Business as usual is not an option as there is a surge of Covid-19 infections in mainland China and other countries),’’ Hontiveros stressed.

Hontiveros advised President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to put up additional layers of health security and safety protocols for tourists coming into the country this New Year before he leaves for China on Jan. 3.

Aside from the eligibility of tourists based on their vaccination status, Hontiveros asked the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) to review and update the country’s color-coded travel restrictions as it expects an increase of tourist arrivals.

‘'Pag-aralan na rin dapat ng Malacañang ang iba’t-ibang paraan para na rin sa kaligtasan at kalusugan ng mamamayang Pilipino (Malacañang should also study other means of protecting the safety and health of our countrymen),’’ she added.

Hontiveros cited the need to have a single destination entry for foreign tourists coming from countries with high rates of Covid-19 infections so that there would coordination with local government units (LGUs) that should receive them.

‘’Kailangan nating masiguradong may sapat tayong kakayahan para tumugon sa kakailanganing testing, tracing, at treatment (We should have the necessary expertise to deal with testing, tracing and treatment),’’ she pointed out.

The lady lawmaker expects China to be open and truthful about data on the true state of their Covid-19 infections based open the 2005 International Health Regulations.

‘’At sa ating mga kababayan namang tatanggap ng mga turista, lalo na sa mga frontliners pagdating sa travel industry, patuloy tayong mag-ingat, magpabakuna at magpa-booster, ugaliing mag-mask at sumunod sa minimum public health standard (Our countrymen in the travel industry who will accept these tourists, particularly the frontliners, should be careful, have themselves vaccinated and boosted, continue using masks and observe minimum health standard),’’ she said.

"While we respect the freedom of movement for all of us, we learned in 2020 that securing the country’s borders helps us protect ourselves from Covid-19 infections and its new variants," she added.

‘’Kung isinara natin ang mga borders natin noon, naiwasan sana ang ganoong karaming nagkasakit at namatay, at mas naihanda ang ating health system (Had we closed our borders then, we should have avoided the many infections and deaths and prepared our health system),’’ she said.

‘’We have been here before. Let us prove we are learning from the lessons of the past,’’ she emphasized.