Senator Dick Gordon restated his proposal to the Inter-Agency Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) that all incoming overseas Filipino workers (OFW) and returning Philippine residents who have been fully vaccinated abroad or in the Philippines be sent directly for home quarantine upon their arrival and then be tested for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on the fifth or seventh day.
Gordon officially sent the recommendation to IATF Chief Implementer Secretary Carlito G. Galvez Jr. on June 14 and stressed that the required 14-day quarantine period for returning Filipinos “will cause a drain on their resources and take away from the time they are planning to spend with their families from whom they have already been separated for years”.
“We want to lessen the financial and emotional expense that they are dealing with during these difficult times.”
“We want our fellowmen who are coming home to the Philippines to be with their families as soon as they arrive, and we want to lessen the financial and emotional expense that they are dealing with during these difficult times,” the veteran legislator said.
The seasoned lawmaker mentioned that one of his former staff, who is a land-based OFW, recently arrived from Spain.
Upon arrival in Manila, she was checked-in at Sofitel and was swabbed on the seventh day. However, she received the result of her RT-PCR test on the ninth day of her quarantine and checked out only on the tenth day.
“It took 10 days for her to be able to go home to her family. 10 days were wasted. She is fortunate that the government paid for her hotel accommodation and food, but for those who are not OFW or OWWA member, they need to pay for everything. Ang laking pera ng nagagastos nila bago pa makauwi sa kanilang pamilya at malaking gastos din para sa gobyerno,” the senator stressed.
“Allow the local government units to implement their own policies for returning overseas Filipinos.”
During the deliberation on the National COVID-19 Vaccination Program recently, he also urged the IATF to allow the local government units to implement their own policies for returning overseas Filipinos, specifically OFWs, provided that local officials will take full responsibility in ensuring their people’s safety by instigating strict health protocols.
“I always say, closer is better. In Florida in the United States, a federal judge granted the state’s request to block the CDC’s rules on cruise ships after it paralyzed the cruise industry and caused a major loss in Florida’s economy. It is a major victory for the state as their livelihood depends on cruise industry. I hope we can do that in our country and start the recovery of our economy.,” Gordon said.
“Our Local Government Code says that local governments have local autonomy and may therefore, enforce laws in their jurisdictions in cases of epidemics, pestilence and other widespread health dangers,” he concluded.
