Senate finance panel chairman Sen. Sonny Angara starts defending the proposed 2022 national budget amounting to P5.024 trillion during Wednesday’s hybrid plenary session, November 10, 2021. (Voltaire F. Domingo/Senate PRIB)
MANILA, Philippines — The government’s pandemic task force will discuss ways to impose “less quarantine” for travelers in a bid to attract more tourists into the country.
Senators said Wednesday this was the assurance given to them by vaccine czar, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr.
“Secretary Galvez has assured us that they’re going to discuss it and they’re going to merge the green and the yellow (lists) so that they could have less quarantine and attract more foreign tourists,” Senator Sonny Angara said during the first day of plenary deliberations on the 2022 national budget.
Angara was defending the proposed national budget as chairman of the Senate finance committee. Seated behind him in the session hall were Galvez and other government officials who can help answer queries from senators on the floor.
It was Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto who raised questions on the government’s policy on travelers entering the Philippines.
“What is the policy with regard to the quarantine when you enter the Philippines? Let’s say the United State—and most of the people there are vaccinated—if you have a vaccine, PCR test, and you come to the Philippines, are you still required to quarantine?” Recto asked.
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In response, Angara said he was told that “if you come from a country on the green list, you don’t have to be quarantined.”
“If you are on the yellow country list, which includes the U.S., you quarantine for five days and if you test negative, you can go home. But if you test positive, you have to go to a facility-based quarantine,” he further explained.
But Recto questioned this.
“So why not kung nabakunahan ka na sa Amerika at pupunta ka ng Pilipinas or OFW ka…is it required to quarantine pa rin?” he asked.
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Recto then stressed the need to take appropriate policy directions to open up tourism.
“If we don’t take this issue seriously and we don’t study this carefully, how do you open up the economy? How do you open up our tourism? Tourism is…10 percent of the economy,” he added.
Angara agreed with Recto, saying there is an urgent need to address the matter.
“Under discussion according to Sec. Galvez…They’re doing some discussing,” he said.