Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 23) — The country’s pandemic response task force has specified conditions fully vaccinated international travelers must fulfill to qualify for “green lanes” which allow them shorter quarantine upon entering the Philippines.
Resolution No. 128-A of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases said passengers must fulfill all these conditions to be allowed a seven-day facility-based quarantine:
– Their port of origin must be a “green” country, or a nation with low COVID-19 risk;
– They stayed exclusively in a “green country” for the last fourteen days before arriving in the country;
– They have been fully vaccinated either in the Philippines or overseas;
– Their vaccination status can be “independently” verified or confirmed by national authorities as valid and authentic upon arrival
Travelers meeting all these prerequisites will be allowed to quarantine for a shorter period of time instead of the usual ten-days for ordinary international arriving passengers.
The latest IATF resolution also specified documents that may be used to verify and confirm travelers’ inoculation status.
Overseas Filipino workers and their spouses, parents, and children travelling with them shall present a certification from their respective Philippine Overseas Labor Office.
Travelers who completed their vaccination in the Philippines must show their vaccination cards issued by their respective local government units or administering hospitals. An LGU-issued vaccine certificate may also be presented provided border control authorities can verify them.
An international certificate of vaccination or prophylaxis (ICV) issued by the Bureau of Quarantine may likewise be used, the resolution said.
Meanwhile, passengers who got fully vaccinated abroad need to present their vaccination certificate issued by health authorities where they got inoculated. This is provided the document can be confirmed independently for authenticity by Philippine authorities.
The IATF also approved the Health Department’s recommendation to include in the “green” list countries or jurisidictions that have less than 50 new cases per 100,000 population over the past 28 days.
All travelers merely transiting through a country not included in the list will not be considered as having come from that place if they “stayed in the airport the whole time and were not cleared for entry into such country/jurisdiction/territory by its immigration authorities,” the issuance stated.
The recent resolution supersedes Resolution No. 123-C, which was issued in June and first announced the approval of green lanes for fully vaccinated individuals.
Presidential and IATF Spokesperson Harry Roque announced on Friday that the latest guidelines will take effect on 12:01 a.m. on July 26.
