A NUMBER of overseas Filipinos will likely stay put wherever they are this Christmas, despite Manila now allowing balikbayans to come home for the holidays beginning December 7.
Many are doing so out of safety and health concerns, the added expense in traveling during the pandemic, although others may travel home due to family obligations such as weddings or funerals.
Los Angeles-based graphic designer Chet Vergara told the BusinessMirror, “As much as I want to return for a visit, the situation here and the logistics make it really difficult. Los Angeles has imposed new lockdowns, including a ban on non-essential travel and a 14-day quarantine upon return.”
He added: “The RT-PCR test here is around $150-$200 [if you don’t have insurance]. Cathay Pacific requires passengers to take the test 72 hours before the outbound flight. And there’s the 16-hour flight!” Vergara chooses to fly via Cathay because the route will take him from LAX to Cebu, where his family resides, with a layover in Hong Kong.
Dennis Serfino, a nurse practitioner in Jacksonville, Florida, said he wouldn’t be visiting Manila this Christmas, “but most likely in the summer [July and August 2021] assuming I and the rest of the family have been vaccinated by then.” He plans to visit his older brother who still lives in Quezon City. But a vaccine is a non-negotiable condition for him to fly home—“vaccine first”—considering the large number of Covid-19 cases in the Philippines.
As of November 30, the Philippines has recorded Covid-19 infections at 432,057, with deaths at 8,413.
As a nurse practitioner, he has seen up close how Covid-19 patients have suffered. He noted, “Positive cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in the state have steadily been on the rise since October, after plateauing for several weeks following the summer surge. No additional restrictions are in place, however, to stop the spread of the virus.”
With over 13.4 million Covid-19 infections in the US, and deaths recorded at 267,000, some government officials and tourism stakeholders are suggesting a test-before-travel policy for homecoming Filipinos or balikbayans. (See, “Concern raised on arriving ‘balikbayan’ and Covid risks,” in the BusinessMirror, November 30, 2020.)
For her part, Sonora Ocampo, an external communications manager for a telco in Sweden, said, “We hope to visit the Philippines again after the pandemic, or when the situation has significantly improved.” Despite the distance, she said she was in close touch via regular Zoom chats with her family here, which includes her father, former Rep. Satur Ocampo and his wife Bobbie Malay, and her siblings. “So we can also celebrate Christmas online,” said the younger Ocampo.
Long-time London resident Peps Villanueva of Crystal Travel Philippines said, “As of the moment, our bookings are mostly Filipinos who need to be there for weddings, death, illnesses, etc.”
However, Covid-19 anxieties have kept their usual clients from booking any trips to the Philippines, such that their agency’s sales have been lower by about 50 percent, considering the time of the year. “Sales are very down, hence, we are all still in furlough. People are mostly staying home.”
Most of the bookings their agency are getting are for three-to-four week visits. “We book [our clients’] flights plus their quarantine hotels if needed, but Covid tests are done at the airport [Ninoy Aquino International Airport] upon arrival. Sometimes, hotels are booked by relatives in the Philippines.”
Villanueva underscored that upon the balikbayan’s return, he would have to quarantine at home for 14 days, “with random track and trace checks” by the National Health Service, the government-funded health care and medical services provider in the UK.
Constant and repeated appeals by overseas Filipinos have persuaded both the Department of Foreign Affairs and Department of Tourism (DOT) to strongly recommend the reopening of the Philippines to balikbayans and their foreign spouses and children. The DOT said there are over 10 million Filipinos living and working overseas.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes