PMA opens doors to visitors after 2-year lockdown

TOURIST STOP Tourists, like these shown in a 2014 photo, have made the Philippine Military Academy part of their Baguio City tour. —EV ESPIRITU

BAGUIO CITY — Tourists are welcome once more inside the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), which formally lifted its two-year lockdown on Thursday.

But they must pass a screening process and will not be allowed to interact with cadets, including to take “selfies” with them, to which many generations of visitors to Fort del Pilar have become accustomed, according to PMA entry rules.

The military school restricted access to the public in February 2020 to protect its students, shortly before COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic in March that year. That included families of more than 1,000 cadets, who have not been able to attend important events, like graduation ceremonies.

PMA’s decision to take in visitors was made just as the city received 578,000 tourists from December last year to March 20.

The Baguio Flower Festival is also being restaged after a two-year break while the number of active COVID-19 cases has gone down to eight as of Wednesday.

Requirements

PMA visitors will be required to register via the screening platform, bisita.pma.edu.ph, to help enforce a daily cap of 300 guests, First Lt. Christine Mae Calima, PMA spokesperson, told reporters on Thursday.

Fully inoculated tourists must present their vaccination cards, she said, adding that those who are unvaccinated will be required to show negative rapid antigen results taken within a 72-hour period before they enter Fort del Pilar.

The academy will also require both vaccinated and nonvaccinated visitors of cadets to present negative rapid antigen test results. —VINCENT CABREZA

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