PRESIDENT Duterte has ordered the local government of Cebu to comply with the rules of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) for inbound travelers.
In an online press briefing on Monday, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque disclosed Duterte made the decision after studying the critique on the protocols of the Cebu province, which deviated from that of the IATF. “The President has decided that the IATF protocols must be implemented by the Cebu province,” Roque said.
This, after the grace period extended by Duterte to the province of Cebu to implement the IATF protocols expired last Saturday.
Roque said the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) was tasked to ensure compliance by the province of Cebu with IATF guidelines. To recall, the Cebu province opted to allow inbound Filipinos to be tested upon their arrival.
The travelers were allowed to leave the isolation facilities once they get their test results two to three days later and it shows they are negative for Covid-19.
The IATF require travelers to first undergo quarantine for seven days before they are tested for Covid-19. It imposed the said policy since there were some travelers who initially tested negative for Covid-19 upon their arrival, but later turned out to be infected a few days later.
Due to the Cebu government’s deviation from the national policy for inbound travel, Malacañang ordered all international flights bound to Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) to be diverted to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).
The flight diversion took effect from May 29 to June 12, 2021.
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