Gordon urges IATF to open more airports for repatriation flights of Pinoys

More airports in the country should be reopened only to accommodate repatriation flights for Filipino workers who are still stranded abroad, according to Senator Richard Gordon on Monday.

“I’m aware that we have to take precautions, but I think it would not be a problem, if we allow more flights to come in and distribute them to other airports such as Clark, Subic, and Mactan,” Gordon said in a letter to the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases.

He added that the upcoming opening of Philippine Red Cross COVID-19 testing centers in Central Luzon and Central Visayas would also complement such move.

Gordon underscored that hundreds of unemployed overseas Filipino workers in the United Arab Emirates are facing the global pandemic far away from their loved ones.

“It must be very hard, being stranded and jobless in a foreign land, far away from your loved ones and unsure of where to get money for your next meal and other daily needs. I have also received emails pleading for help about their situation,” he added.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, inbound international commercial flights with repatriates has been allowed to land at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on selected days since May 11.

The number of arriving passengers at NAIA has been limited to only 400 per day. —LDF, GMA News