Iloilo governor asks airline to ban flights from and to countries with nCoV cases

ILOILO CITY — Iloilo Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. had asked one of the country’s leading airlines, Cebu Pacific Air, to suspend flights to and from countries with confirmed cases of novel coronavirus (nCoV) infection.

On Boracay Island, residents have started an online petition calling for a ban on all flights to and from China, where the virus was first detected in Wuhan City and cases have shot up past 7,000.

Defensor made the request on Thursday (Jan. 31) in a letter to Leah Vallido, Cebu Pacific Air operations manager at the Iloilo International Airport in Cabatuan, Iloilo.

“May we respectfully resquest for your voluntary cessation of international flights to and from countries positive for the novel coronavirus immediately,” the governor said in the letter.

“Your favorable and immediate action on this request will be highly appreciated,” he added.

The airline operates direct flights between Iloilo and Singapore and Hong Kong.

Singapore and Hong Kong each have 10 confirmed nCoV cases as of Jan. 30.

Health Secretary Franciso Duque III on Thursday had announced the first confirmed case in the Philippines involving a 38-year-old Chinese
woman.

Charo Logarta-Lagamon, Cebu Pacific Air corporate communications director, said the airline recognized the concern of Defensor and Iloilo residents.

“We will take our cue from health officials (including) the World Health Organization and Department of Health and we will adjust our operations accordingly,” Lagamon told the INQUIRER.

She said the airline had already ceased operations of chartered flights between China and Kalibo International Airport in Aklan several days
ago.

In Boracay, residents have initiated an online petition at Change.org calling on President Rodrigo Duterte and government agencies to implement a ban on all flights to and from China for at least 30 days.

The virus, the petition said, “poses a clear threat to all our lives.”

“A virus that we yet know little about that claims new victims exponentially on a daily basis,” it said. “It has the potential to become the next pandemic, therefore we must prepare for it,” said the petition which has 364 signatories as of 7:58 p.m. on Thursday.

“Banning all flights from China for at least 30 days before the new coronavirus hits our shores is the best way to prevent an impending disaster. It is simply the most prudent step we can take at this point,” the petition read.

“We can then study its effects and its path and reassess thereafter. Let’s be proactive and quite possibly save millions of lives. That of our own and those we love,” it said.

Chinese tourists are the top foreign visitors on Boracay Island.

In 2019, 434,175 tourists from China visited the island comprising 41.84 percent of the total 1,032,619 foreign tourists who went to Boracay.

The World Health Organization has not yet declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern which could lead to travel restrictions. But several countries have already barred or restricted flights from China.

Edited by TSB