OVERSEAS Filipino workers (OFW) and Filipino students are now allowed to return to Hong Kong and Macau, but at their own risk.
The travel ban will still be in place for tourists.
In an ambush interview,
Presidential spokesman Salvador S. Panelo told reporters on Tuesday he was
informed by Health Secretary Francisco III that the Inter-Agency Task Force for
Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has approved the
resumption of the deployment of OFWs and Filipino students to Hong Kong and
Macau.
He said they would have to sign a waiver that they are aware of the risk they could be exposed to novel coronavirus (COVID-19) if they head to both territories, which are special administrative regions of China.
Panelo, however, assured that the government will still provide aid to the OFWs in case they are infected by the dreaded disease.
“The government will always protect and, provide support and assistance of all Filipinos whether here or abroad,” Panelo said.
The chief presidential counsel said the exemption from the travel ban will also cover Filipinos and their foreign spouse or children, and holders of diplomatic visas from both places, who will be heading to the Philippines, on the condition they go through the mandatory 14-day quarantine.
Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Administrator Bernard P. Olalia confirmed the development, saying they will resume the processing of OFWs as soon as the IATF-EID decision takes effect.
The lifting of the partial deployment ban on Hong Kong and Macau comes a few days after the government completely removed the travel ban for Taiwan due to the COVID-19 last Friday.
President Duterte ordered the imposition of the travel ban on China, Hong Kong and Macau last month amid the rising cases of COVID-19 in those places. Wuhan City, located in China’s Hubei province, is ground zero for COVID-19, and has been under lockdown, with 50 million people covered.
As of February 17, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported there are already 71,429 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide.
Of these cases, 70,635 are in China and special administrative areas, which includes Macau and Hong Kong.
The recruitment industry has been lobbying for the lifting of the travel ban, particularly in Hong Kong, since they claimed it could cost a lot of OFWs their jobs.
Image credits: Ivan Abreu/Bloomberg