Navotas gov't restricts entry of travelers
MANILA, Philippines — The Navotas City local government disclosed it has imposed restrictions for incoming travelers from areas outside the so-called NCR Plus bubble.
This comes after the government's coronavirus task force said that a COVID-19 domestic vaccination card or a certificate of quarantine completion would count as alternatives to a testing requirement for interzonal travel.
The restriction applies to essential and non-essential travels of individuals coming from places outside Metro Manila, Rizal, Bulacan, Cavite and Laguna, the city government said in a statement.
Visitors will need to register at s-pass.ph and submit documents including health declaration or medical certificates from the health office of their place of origin indicating that the travelers are not COVID patients nor suspected or probable cases.
They also need to submit a negative RT-PCR swab test result, a barangay certificate stating that they are not required to undergo quarantine or have already completed it, and the full address of their destination in Navotas.
“The travel restriction is a precautionary measure to ensure that we will not suffer again another surge of COVID cases. We saw an influx of cases and high transmission rates in places outside of NCR Plus. We need to implement additional safeguards to keep our people safe,” Navotas City Mayor Toby Tiangco said in a statement.
“While our cases remain low, they are steadily increasing that is why we need to be extra careful and proactive in our fight against this deadly and ever-changing virus,” he added.
READ: COVID-19 vaccine cards count as alternative to testing requirement for travel
As of Tuesday, July 6, Navotas has a total of 11,088 COVID-19 cases. Of these, 10,619 have recovered, 371 died and 98 are still active.
S-PaSS is an online travel management system developed by the Department of Science and Technology to be an online platform for local government units, monitoring agencies and travelers.
Makati Mayor Abby Binay in a separate statement added that the vaccination cards issued by the city government have security features to avoid being falsified.
“We are developing a system for fully vaccinated residents scheduled to leave the country. They can download forms from our COVID-19 vaccination website certifying that they have completed their two vaccine shots,” Binay said.
Earlier, the Department of Health on Wednesday said that local governments can still require fully vaccinated travelers to present a negative swab test result as an entry requirement.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III issued the clarification after some local chief executives expressed concern over the relaxed domestic travel protocols that allow fully vaccinated individuals to present their vaccination cards instead of a test result.
To date, health authorities have recorded 1.45 million coronavirus cases in the Philippines, 47,519 of whom are still active cases.
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