Hold your travels plans until MECQ is lifted

MANILA – Non-essential travels to and from the National Capital Region (NCR) and the provinces of Laguna, Cavite, Rizal, and Bulacan, collectively known as NCR Plus, is not yet allowed, the Department of Tourism (DOT) reiterated on Friday.

“Leisure travelers from the aforementioned region and provinces are encouraged to postpone their travel plans to any areas outside the bubble until such time that the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EIMD) will lift the travel restrictions,” the DOT statement read.

AirAsia, meanwhile, announced that all domestic flights to and from Manila will continue to operate subject to compliance with local government unit restrictions on frequency and capacity but only for essential travels.

The airline company flies once weekly from Caticlan, Aklan to Manila to assist leisure travelers who wish to fly home, like those who went to Boracay but were stranded when the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) was imposed on March 29.

After two weeks, the restriction was downgraded to modified ECQ from April 12 to 30.

Essential travelers and Authorized Persons Outside Residence include health/emergency frontline personnel; government officials and frontline personnel; duly authorized humanitarian assistance actors; persons traveling for medical/humanitarian reasons/going to the airport for international trips; persons crossing zones for work or business permitted in the zone of destination and going back home; and returning or repatriated overseas Filipino workers and other overseas Filipinos returning to their places of residence.