Duterte okays ‘red’ list of countries

MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the release of the “red” list of countries where travel restrictions will be implemented, Malacañang announced on Friday.

“President Rodrigo Roa Duterte approved today, Sept. 10, 2021, the imposition of travel restrictions on countries under the Red List,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a press statement.

The countries included in the red list are Azerbaijan, Guadeloupe, Guam, Israel, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Saint Lucia, and Switzerland, Roque said.

He said all passengers who are coming from or who have been to the countries under the red list within 14 days immediately preceding arrival in the Philippines would be prohibited from entering the country beginning noon on September 12 until 11:59 p.m. on September 18 (Manila time).

He, however, said the travel restrictions do not cover returning Filipinos who will fly back to the country through government-initiated or non-government repatriation programs, as well as through special commercial flights allowed under existing resolutions issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

All passengers who have been to the red-listed countries within 14 days immediately preceding arrival in the Philippines and are arriving before noon on September 12 will be allowed to enter the country, Roque said.

“They, however, shall be required to undergo a 14-day quarantine period,” he said, adding that passengers allowed to enter the country should stay at a quarantine facility in the first 10 days and observe home quarantine in the last four days.

Roque said reverse transcription – polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing must be conducted seven days after their arrival.

“Arriving passengers shall complete a 10-day facility-based quarantine, notwithstanding a negative test result,” he said.

Roque said Filipino or foreign passengers who merely transited through any of the countries included in the red list would not be considered as “having come or having been to the said country, provided they stayed in the airport the whole time and were not cleared for entry by immigration authorities.”