Gov’t to ease outbound travel restrictions on Filipinos wishing to reunite with foreign partners

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles disclosed Saturday that the government's pandemic task force has approved in principle the easing of outbound travel restrictions on Filipinos wishing to reunite with their foreign partners.

In a Facebook Live video, Nograles said the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases is just ironing some details before making an official announcement to the public.

“In principle po, kami sa IATF, payag na kami. Okay na. Ano na lang, yung detalye (In principle, we at the IATF are okay now. We're just ironing out some details),” he said.

"May mga detalye, may iilang detalye na lamang po kaming inaayos (There are just a few details that we are fixing)," he added.

Nograles, co-chair IATF, said the collegial body still has to iron out the mechanism for outbound travel from testing, the airports and airlines, the Bureau of Immigration, and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

He added that they also have to coordinate with countries that will accept Filipinos leaving the Philippines.

The Palace official, however, asked for public understanding on why it took the IATF a long time before easing the outbound travel restrictions.

"Ayaw kasi namin maglabas nang hindi pa prepared, magkakagulo, eh (We don't want to make an announcement when we are not prepared because it will only cause problems)," Nograles said.

"So, kaunting pasensiya lang po at maayos din natin lahat ng ito. Naiintindihan naman natin ang kalagayan ninyo pero magtulungan lang tayo (So please bear with us and we will eventually settle everything. We understand your situation. Let us help each other)," he added.

The government has suspended outbound travel when the Philippines was placed on lockdown in

March as result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The IATF initially allowed the non-essential outbound travel of Filipinos in Resolution No. 52 released in July. However, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said that this has been temporarily suspended after only one insurance company agreed to adhere to the conditions to cover rebooking, accommodation expenses and hospitalization should a traveler contract COVID-19. (Argyll Cyrus B. Geducos)