Always bring vax cards, PNP reminds travelers

MANILA – The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Thursday reminded all motorists and commuters traveling in and out of Metro Manila and neighboring provinces to always bring their vaccination cards which may be required upon entry through border control points.

This, as some cities in Metro Manila and their neighboring towns in the province of Bulacan, which is now also under Alert Level 3, instructed police personnel to check for proof of vaccination of inbound travelers.

“Those without vaccination cards will be barred from entering and will be asked to go back. The PNP is fully aware that movement must not be hampered, but non-essential travel can be controlled. Just stay at home at this time when you have nothing important to do outside,” said PNP chief, Gen. Dionardo Carlos, in a statement.

The measure is in compliance with the Metro Manila mayors’ move to restrict the public movement of unvaccinated persons.

The PNP continues to assess the situation every day. If needed, more police personnel can be deployed to checkpoints with a heavy volume of vehicles.

Meanwhile, the PNP inspected a total of 367 quarantine hotels in the country, as part of the order of President Rodrigo Duterte and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) for the police to monitor the individuals.

The deployment of at least two police officers in coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) quarantine facilities to prevent incidents of persons skipping mandatory isolation.

“Well we follow the instruction of the President of deploying 2 PNP personnel on a 12-hour shift in these hotels that are being utilized as quarantine facilities for returning overseas Filipinos. So we have enough personnel. We have already tasked Metro Manila police chief Maj. Gen. Vicente Danao and the other regional directors to deploy immediately two policemen,” Carlos said in a TV interview.

“So we have done that already and we are just making sure that we have also made coordination with the other government agencies like the Department of Tourism (DOT) and the Bureau of Quarantine and Department of Transportation (DOTr) for a common help desk so we will be working together to ensure that the returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs are in the hotels doing their Quarantine,” he added.

A total of 9,033 individuals were checked and verified by the PNP from 367 out of the 408 quarantine hotels nationwide. No quarantine skippers have so far been reported.

Majority of the individuals are staying in hotels in the National Capital Region, as they account for 119 quarantine hotels, with 6,736 individuals.

This was followed by Central Luzon with 1,680 individuals and Central Visayas with 359 individuals staying inside quarantine hotels.