Cebu gov asks IATF to scrap color-coding on countries, reduce quarantine of returning Filipinos

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia shows off the air purifier given to her by President Duterte on her 66th birthday. (DALE ISRAEL/INQUIRER VISAYAS)

CEBU CITY—Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia is urging the national pandemic task force to scrap its color-coding scheme on countries and shorten the quarantine of returning overseas Filipinos.

Garcia said President Duterte himself had asked that the quarantine period for vaccinated returning Filipinos be shortened.

The Inter-Agency Task Force for Emerging and Infectious Diseases (IATF), however, had not enforced it.

The governor, who has been at odds with the IATF on several occasions, questioned the basis for the color-coding of countries used in determining which country of origin can avail of a shortened quarantine facility stay.

She cited as an example the case of the United States when it has the most number of vaccinated individuals and with the most number of vaccines but was not part of the so-called “green countries.”

Garcia said that IATF should look into the human aspect of the returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs). She said the returning Filipinos come home for very important reasons, and yet are held by the “illogical” quarantine protocols imposed by the IATF.

“Please find your humanity somewhere in there beyond the power tripping. Remember that our ROFs and OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) are Filipinos too. They have families too. And many of them are not coming home for a grand vacation. They are coming home for urgent reasons,” she said.

After ending the conflicting policies between the province and the IATF in June, Cebu has continued to follow the protocols imposed by IATF on all ROFs.

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