Roque: Foreigners with DFA entry exemption docs before March 22 allowed entry to Philippines

More foreign nationals will be allowed entry in the Philippines until April 30 amid the COVID-19 pandemic after the government allowed the entry of foreigners with valid entry exemption documents duly issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) before March 22.

On Friday, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said this is provided under the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) April 15 Resolution 110.

This means foreigners with valid entry exemption documents duly issued by the DFA before March 22 will join the following who are already exempted from the suspension of entry for people of foreign citizenship:

• diplomats and members of international organizations, and their dependents provided they hold a valid 9(e) visa or 47(a)(2) visa, as the case may be, at the time of entry
• foreign nationals involved in medical repatriation duly endorsed by Department of Foreign Affairs - Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration provided they have a valid visa at the time of entry;
• foreign seafarers under the “Green Lanes” program for crew change provided that they hold a 9(c) crew list visa at the time of entry;
• foreign spouses and children of Filipino citizens travelling with them provided they have valid visas at the time of entry; and
• emergency, humanitarian, and other analogous cases approved by the Chairperson of the National Task Force Against COVID-19 or his duly authorized representative, provided the foreign nationals have valid visas at the time of entry.

The Philippines has 183,527 active COVID-19 cases, with 11,429 new COVID-19 cases recorded on April 15 alone.

Likewise, 55,681 new COVID-19 cases have been recorded in the National Capital Region—the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country—for the last two weeks.

The Philippines has only 3,025,600 doses of COVID-19 vaccine supply so far.

Of this number, less than half or 1.2 million doses have been administered while only over 162,000 individuals have completed their two doses of COVID-19 vaccine. — Llanesca T. Panti/RSJ, GMA News