Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 2) — The Bureau of Quarantine (BoQ) on Wednesday clarified that the government’s electronic arrival or e-arrival card is not part of pre-departure and boarding requirements.
“Nagkakaroon po ng misinterpretations dun sa mandatory or hindi. Ito ay isang arrival requirement pero hindi ito requirement for boarding sa point of origin,” BoQ Chief of International Health Surveillance Division Carlos Dela Reyna Jr. told CNN Philippines.
[Translation: There has been some misinterpretation on whether it is mandatory. This is an arrival requirement, but not needed for boarding at the point of origin.]
He acknowledged that this detail often confuses travelers as well as those from the airline industry.
The government replaced the One Health Pass with the e-arrival card in October, in a bid to simplify border surveillance amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Hindi pa po binababa ng WHO ang classification ng COVID-19 sa PHEIC,” Dela Reyna told Newsroom Ngayon.
[Translation: The WHO has not lowered the classification of COVID-19 from PHEIC (public health emergency of international concern).]
All travelers coming into the country — whether local or foreign — must register for an e-arrival card within 72 hours of their arrival through the onehealthpass.com.ph website.
Vaccinated passengers only need to answer a few questions while the unvaccinated must upload a photo of their antigen or RT-PCR test results. The needed bar code (for unvaccinated individuals) or QR code (for those who are vaccinated) will be immediately released.
The BoQ also gave its assurance that all information will be secure.
“Ang ginagawa namin, pag hindi na kailangan yung information, or after seven days na wala pong reported na kaso sa eroplano, dinedelete na yung information na ito sa database,” Dela Reyna said.
[Translation: Once the information is no longer needed, or after seven days of no reported cases from a flight, we delete the information from the database.]
He added only a select number of people are given access to the database.
