Bohol residents call on prov’l gov’t to stop flights from China to Bohol

Some passengers at the Bohol Panglao International Airport wear mask as precaution against the coronavirus from China. Leo Udtohan/Inquirer Visayas

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol –– Some Bohol residents have called on the provincial government to stop direct flights from China to Bohol due to concerns for their health in the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan City.

In his Facebook post addressed to suspended Bohol Gov. Art Yap, Dexter Muneses Ancla wanted to block Chinese tourists from entering the province.

“I am not being racist,” clarified Ancla, “Like you, I have Chinese blood in my veins too. But this new coronavirus does not discriminate. And it is very deadly and has no known cure yet.”

Ancla, 44, an official of the Bohol Nature Conservation Society, asked to restrict the entrance of Chinese tourists in Bohol.

“Much better block all of them from entering Bohol until the coronavirus is contained and has a cure. Please stop the direct flights from China to Bohol,” he said.

He said the Philippines is not equipped with such technologies and personnel to stop this virus.

Residents were alarmed after news broke that two Chinese
nationals-aged 2 and 36, who were in the province as tourists, had been suspected of carrying the deadly coronavirus.

Following the reports, an emergency meeting was called by acting Bohol Gov. Rene Relampagos with the local and national agencies to create a technical working group because there had been no guidelines yet from the Department of Health (DOH) on how to address cases of coronavirus, whether suspected or confirmed.

On Jan. 24, at least 172 Chinese tourists arrived at the Bohol-Panglao International Airport (BPIA) onboard PanPacific Airline from Chengdu Shuangliu International.

Some of them wore masks.

The BPIA services two flights from China every week—Mondays and Fridays.

A data from the Bohol Tourism Office noted that the Chinese were top visitors in the province followed by Koreans.

Matthew James Sepe, quarantine nurse at the BPIA, said these tourists came from Chengdu City.

Sepe said all the tourists were negative for fever when they passed through the thermal scanner at the international arrival area.

But Ancla was still worried even they were negative on thermal scanner.

“Once coronavirus infects a person, it has high probability to kill that person in less than 10 days. No known cure anywhere in the world,” he said.

“What will tourism do good if it is killing our friends, and family? Which is more devastating a lost income from tourism or the death of a friend or a family member?” Ancla told the Inquirer.

Ancla said money is not everything.

“Money won’t raise the dead. Money will not ease the pain and suffering from a dead loved one,” he said./lzb