IRR for new border control system will be fast-tracked: Roque

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte went back to Manila a day after Christmas to meet selected members of his Cabinet along with infectious disease experts. The emergency meeting, held in Malacañang Palace on December 26,2020, was convened to discuss the emerging fast-spreading new variant of Coronavirus (Covid-19) disease found in the United Kingdom. ALFRED FRIAS/ PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte wants to shorten the period to release the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Executive Order (EO) No. 122 which pushes the adoption of the Advance Passenger Information (API) System.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte approved the recommendation during a meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) and experts on Saturday.

“The Chief Executive approved the recommendation of Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra to shorten the period to come up with the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Executive Order No. 122, which strengthens border control through the adoption and implementation of an Advanced Passenger Information System,” Roque said in a statement.

Duterte signed EO No. 122 last Dec. 15.

An API System refers to an electronic communications system that collects biographic data from machine readable passports, other official travel documents or basic details provided by commercial carriers.

Aside from strict enforcement of immigration laws to enhance the Philippine border control, Duterte emphasized the upgrading of screening capacity “to enhance border integrity, manage international traffic flow amidst dramatic growth in passenger numbers, and ensure public safety and security.”

Under the EO, the captain, master or agent, or owner of a commercial carrier whose vessel or aircraft is arriving in or departing from any port within the Philippine territory shall provide the Bureau of Immigration (BI) the API of its passengers, and those of the crew and non-crew members.

The API shall serve as initial security vetting of passengers, crew and non-crew members to effectively facilitate and expedite the arrival and departure process of legitimate travelers during primary inspection. This, however, shall not exempt any passenger, crew or non-crew member from submitting to physical primary inspection at the immigration counters of the ports of entry or departure.

On Saturday night, Duterte approved the recommendation for an extension of the ban on flights from the United Kingdom (UK) for two more weeks after Dec. 31.

Duterte also approved recommendations of the Department of Health for the strict mandatory 14-day quarantine for travelers coming from countries or areas that reported presence of the Covid-19 new variant including Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia regardless of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results.

He also approved travel restrictions in countries that have recorded cases of the Covid-19 new variant when transmission of the new variant in these countries have been confirmed at the community level and all positive RT-PCR specimens of UK travelers must be forwarded to the Philippine Genome Center, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, and the University of the Philippines National Institutes of Health, for genome sequencing.

The recommendation to strengthen the genomics surveillance, as part of the biosurveillance, to include target sequencing in high-risk groups, like clusters with increased cases and clusters with increased severity and deaths, was likewise approved by Duterte.