Baguio City not accepting tourists as it shifts to GCQ

MANILA, Philippines — Tourists are not allowed to enter Baguio City as it shifted to the stricter general community quarantine (GCQ) status, mayor Benjamin Magalong said Tuesday.

Magalong said they are awaiting the Department of Tourism’s endorsement to the government’s Covid-19 task force in allowing them to receive tourists despite being placed under stricter quarantine status.

“Hintayin muna namin yung approval ng Department of Tourism. And they will endorse that to the IATF [Inter–Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases] kung pwede kami tumanggap such the case na ginawa sa Batangas wherein a particular place in Batangas was able to get some sort of exception maski na GCQ sila,” Magalong said in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel.

(We will wait for the approval of the Department of Tourism. And they will endorse that to the IATF if we can accept tourists like the case in Batangas where they were able to get some sort of exception though they are under GCQ.)

“We cannot violate the IATF guidelines. We cannot. We have to strictly comply with it. Ang sasabihin na lang namin siguro (What we can say right now is), just wait for further announcement. But for the meantime, we are not allowing tourists to come up to Baguio City,” he added.

The DOT previously allowed recreational diving in Mabini, Batangas even though the province was under GCQ.

Meanwhile, the entire Cordillera Administrative Region reverted to GCQ for the month of February after it recorded a surge in cases and it detected the presence of the new coronavirus variant.

JE