Senate probe sought on continuous China flights amid travel ban, virus woes
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Imee Marcos is seeking a Senate inquiry on the alleged continuation of flights from China and its special administrative regions which she said violated the government’s travel ban amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak.
In a resolution she filed on Feb. 18, 2020, Marcos said airports in Manila, Cebu, Clark, Davao, and Kalibo “cater at least 15 direct flights” from the cities of Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Nanning, and Wuxi.
She said some airlines offer direct flights from Wuhan to Kalibo “and allegedly, these airports do not state that flights from such airlines were ‘Canceled,’ as reflected on other airlines, instead, most were marked as: ‘Unknown,’ ‘Scheduled,’ or ‘Scheduled-Delayed’ even if web-based flight trackers recorded landings at the airports with corresponding departure, arrival, and delay times.”
“In violation of the travel restrictions, numerous flights from China have been confirmed by airport logs and airline manifests wherein several netizens even insisted that a flight from Wuhan landed at Kalibo Airport early morning of 06 February 2020,” Marcos said in her resolution.
She, however, noted that the acting Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines chief at the Kalibo Airport, Engr. Eusebio Monserate Jr., had already denied the allegation.
‘It’s not true. We have too many fake news coming out, Marcos quoted Monserate as saying.
On February. 2, the Philippine government banned all travel to and from China and its two administrative regions, Hong Kong and Macau to curb the spread of the virus.
Duterte orders temporary travel ban on visitors from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau
The government later exempted overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from the Hong Kong and Macau travel ban.
Filipino workers and their foreign spouses or children, and holders of diplomatic visas have been allowed to enter the country subject to a 14-day quarantine as recommended by the Department of Health.
