Philippines removes its virus travel ban on Taiwanese

MANILA: The Philippines on Friday lifted a coronavirus travel ban on Taiwan after Taipei threatened retaliation.

Taiwan foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou told reporters earlier on Friday the island had drawn up certain “response measures” while waiting for a reply to its demand to lift the travel ban.

President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman Salvador Panelo later announced in Manila the immediate lifting of the travel ban on Taiwan.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque cited “the absence of local transmission” of the virus there and the “relatively low volume of travellers from Taiwan to Manila”.

Some 150,000 Filipinos work in Taiwan, enjoying visa-free entry that reports said could have been withdrawn in retaliation. Beijing views self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to eventually take the island, by force if necessary.

Earlier in the day a senior member of the Senate warned the government decision to include Taiwan in its expanded travel ban list due to COVID-19 would have “potentially dire consequences” on the estimated 160,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWS) deployed on that island nation.

In a statement, administration Senator Panfilo Lacson also acknowledged the ban proved that the China lobby has become a powerful force under the administration of President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte.

“Just like the termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA with the US), the Philippine government total ban is a policy decision implemented by the executive department which may not necessarily be correct, health-wise and politically,” Lacson, also a former chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said.

He was referring to the decision to include Taiwan in its expanded travel ban list earlier ordered by Duterte that covered China as well as Hong Kong and Macau, its two special administrative regions, to help prevent the spread of the dreaded virus.

But last week, the government clarified it included Taiwan in the list based on the official stand of the World Health Organisation ( WHO) that it recognizes Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China.