Philippines allows foreigners' entry for biz, tourism purposes

The Philippine government has allowed entry of foreigners in the country for business and tourism purposes, under certain conditions, starting February 10 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Malacañang said Friday.

Acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles said that under the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) Resolution 160-B, the foreign nationals allowed entry for business and tourism purposes include:

• former Filipino citizens with Balikbayan privilege under Balikbayan Program law, including their spouse and/or children who are not balikbayans and are traveling with them, provided they are not restricted nationals;
• those citizen/national of the following countries entitled to a stay not exceeding 30 days as per Executive Order 408, S. 1960, as amended which can be found on this link https://dfa.gov.ph/list-of-countries-for-21-day-visa

Additional requirements for the foreign travelers going to the Philippines include:

• full vaccination against COVID-19 and is in possession of an acceptable proof of vaccination, except only for minors below 12 years of age traveling with their fully-vaccinated foreign parent/s
• a negative RT-PCR COVID-19 test taken within 48 hours prior to the date and time of departure from the country of origin/first port of embarkation in a continuous travel to the Philippines, excluding lay-overs; provided, that, he/she has not left the airport premises or has not been admitted into another country during such lay-over
• valid tickets for their return journey to the port of origin or next port of destination not later than 30 days from date of arrival in the Philippines
• passports valid for a period of at least 6 months at the time of their arrival in the Philippines 
• travel insurance for COVID-19 treatment costs from reputable insurers, with a minimum coverage of $US 35,000.00 for the duration of their stay in the Philippines (obtained, prior to arrival)

"Visa-free foreign nationals who fail to fully comply with the conditions and requisites shall be denied admission into the country and shall be subject to the appropriate exclusion proceedings," the Resolution read.

"Once admitted into the country, they are no longer required to observe facility-based quarantine but shall self-monitor for any sign or symptom for seven days with the first day being the date of arrival. However, they are required to report to the LGU of their destination should they manifest any symptoms," it added. —LBG, GMA News