Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 22) – The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases is now considering the possibility of allowing the entry of foreign nationals looking to return to the Philippines for work or as permanent residents, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Monday.
Roque said a number of foreign embassies have requested to allow more international flights to Manila despite travel restrictions so that they can allow their nationals to fly to the country, prompting the task force to consider the appeal.
“Sinisimulan nang pag-usapan ‘yan sa IATF kasi may mga request kami from embassies na payagan ‘yung mga foreign employees ng mga flagship projects [The IATF has started talks regarding this because we’ve been receiving requests from embassies to allow foreign employees working in flagship projects],” Roque said in his Malacañang briefing.
Also being considered in today’s IATF meeting are holders of work visas, as well as those declared as permanent residents of the country such as retirees and special investors.
No commercial international flights have been allowed since mid-March, when President Rodrigo Duterte placed the entire Luzon under enhanced community quarantine. However, chartered flights have been arranged to bring home overseas Filipino workers displaced from their jobs abroad.
The Cabinet official did not name the embassies that made the requests.
A number of big-ticket construction projects in the government’s pipeline are funded by Japan, China, and South Korea.
Roque said the government was willing to spend to ferry home other displaced Filipinos abroad, but said that lockdowns in foreign states also prohibited them from doing so.
“Walang Pilipino na nagnanais umuwi na hindi makakauwi [No Filipino who wants to fly home will not be able to come home],” he said.
Some 54,000 OFWs have been flown home in the past three months, according to the Labor Department.
