Over 8,000 arrivals monitored as Philippines opens borders to foreigners –BI

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) monitored more than 8,000 arrivals after the Philippines opened its borders to foreign nationals last Thursday.

During Friday's Laging Handa public briefing, BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval said 27% to 30% of the travelers were foreigners.

“Madami-dami po ‘yung dumating kahapon during the first day of implementation nitong pag-open natin ng borders. Kahapon po nagtala po tayo ng mahigit sa 8,000 na arrivals,” she said.

(A significant number of travelers came in yesterday, on the first-day borders opened. Yesterday, we recorded over 8,000 arrivals)

Sandoval said four foreign nationals could not enter the country due to issues with the required documents, which included proof of vaccination.

“Nakapagtala po tayo ng apat na foreign nationals na hindi po natin pinapasok. Most of them hindi po proper yung mga documentation nila,” she said.

(We recorded four foreign nationals that we barred from entering the country. Most of them, their documentation was not proper)

Sandoval said the Bureau of Quarantine was checking the vaccination cards of the foreign nationals to see if these were legitimate, readable, and compliant with government guidelines.

If there was falsification or inconsistency with the guidelines in the vaccination cards, she said that the foreign nationals would be turned over to the BI, which would implement their exclusion. — DVM, GMA News