BOQ to prioritize ‘Yellow Card’ applications for travel

The Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) will prioritize the processing of applications for a "yellow card" by individuals with scheduled trips abroad.

BOQ Director Dr. Roberto Salvador Jr. appealed to those who have been applying for the Yellow Card to give way to individuals who have an immediate schedule to travel overseas.

"Sa ngayon po ay hindi po natin sila ini-encourage na kumuha ng yellow card kung hindi po gagamitin sa labas ng bansa (Right now, we are not encouraging them to get a yellow card if they are not going to use it for interna

tional travel)," said Salvador.

"Kasi po, sobrang dami po ng gustong kumuha ng yellow card, nawawalan po ng slot iyong mga talaga pong aalis na papunta sa ibang bansa (There are so many people who want to get a yellow card and those who are actually going to travel to another country are losing their slots)," he added.

Salvador said the International Certificate of Vaccination and Prophylaxis (ICV) or yellow card is a vaccination card that provides details of the diseases that a person has been vaccinated against.

“Ito po ay dokumento kung saan po nakatala ang mga bakuna na nakukuha ng mga travelers natin at puwede po nilang ipakita sa country of destination (This is a document that shows the vaccination history of the travelers and they can present it in their country of destination),”he added.

"Ito po ay recognized ng lahat ng 196 WHO (World Health Organization) signatories na nag-umpisa pa po mula noong 1935 (This is being recognized by 196 countries which are WHO signatories since 1935),” he added.

Salvador said a yellow card is not mandatory in all international destinations.

“Ang una po nating gagawin, bago po kayo umalis papunta sa ibang bansa, makipag-ugnayan muna po doon sa country of destination or doon sa airline kung ano po iyong requirement para makapasok kayo doon (The first thing that you should do is to contact your airline to find out what requirements are needed in order to enter your country of destination),” he said.

Those who need to secure a yellow card can apply through the agency's online booking system, said Salvador.

“Once naka-book na po, puwede na pong pumunta sa Bureau of Quarantine kung kailan iyong date na napili nila para makakuha o maisyuhan sila ng yellow card (Once they booked a schedule online, they can go to the Bureau of Quarantine office on their chosen date for them to be issued a yellow card),” said Salvador.

“Ang kailangan lang pong dalhin kapag nagpunta doon sa office natin is iyong passport lang po at saka iyong vaccination certificate (All you have to bring when you go to our office is your passport and your vaccination certificate),” he added.

Applicants can go to the BOQ's head office in Port Area, Manila and other satellite offices such as SM Mall of Asia, Batangas, Subic, La Union, Laoag, Cebu, Davao, and Cagayan de Oro in order to get their yellow cards, said Salvador.

Meanwhile, the BOQ will be opening more satellite offices to accommodate more people who need to secure the yellow card.

“Next week, magbubukas po kami sa SM North EDSA po ng satellite station; and susunod ay magbubukas din kami sa Eastwood and McKinley (Next week, we will open a satellite station in SM North EDSA as well as in Eastwood and McKinley),” said Salvador.

“Iyong mga other provincial stations namin – General Santos, Kalibo, Bacolod, Palawan, Legazpi – i-o-open na rin po namin para makatulong kami na mabigyan talaga iyong mga nangangailangan ng yellow card po (We will also open our other provincial stations in General Santos, Kalibo, Bacolod, Palawan, Legazpi so we can serve more people who are in need of a yellow card),” he added.

Acceptable PH vax cards Without a unified database for vaccine recipients in the country, Hong Kong’s initial decision not to honor the vaccination cards of Filipinos is “bound to happen,” Vice President Leni Robredo said yesterday.

During her weekly radio show, Robredo

criticized the government for being ill-prepared in creating the database before rolling out the country’s vaccination program.

“Bound to happen iyon talaga kung hindi natin napagplanuhan at the early stage na magkaroon talaga (That is really bound to happy if we did not plan at the early stage to have it),” she said. She called for urgent and fast government action to address this problem.

The vice president stressed the need to issue vaccination certificates right after the second dose.

Last week, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said that Hong Kong will not honor the vaccination cards issued by the Philippine government to returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) because the cards did not come from one source.

Locsin, however, expressed confidence that the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) will be able to come up with a system for ensuring that vaccination cards issued to Filipinos are globally accepted.

Hong Kong authorities are now working with Philippine government officials so that the reentry of thousands of Filipino domestic workers may be facilitated. The pandemic has created a shortage of domestic workers in Hong Kong. The vaccination cards issued to Filipinos are dependent on the local government unit (LGU). Only a handful of LGUs like Quezon City has attached a seal on the card as proof of authenticity.

Some 3,000 OFWs who are bound to return to Hong Kong as China’s administrative region lifts the travel ban will be impacted by the policy.

Robredo said Filipinos are lucky that some countries are not as strict as Hong Kong with regards to the proof of vaccination.

She urged the government to act “this early” to decentralize the issuance of the vaccination certificate so Filipinos won’t need to go to the Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) to apply for the yellow card or the proof of vaccination other countries are requiring.

Robredo said that the BOQ should work with LGUs to develop a system that will issue a certificate of vaccination right after the second dose.

Last year, Robredo called on the government to develop a system, including a database for all vaccine recipients, once the rollout of the vaccines starts.

She said the lack of a database is creating gaps in the program and allowing some Filipinos to receive a “booster” despite this not being part of the country’s protocol yet.