The One-Stop Shop (OSS) under the Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Monday clarified concerns raised on social media regarding arrival protocols.
DOTr Undersecretary Raul del Rosario, responding to recent posts by “someone who just arrived from the US” and who landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), said the protocols are necessary to ensure safety against Covid-19.
The social media user lamented that passengers had to wait inside the plane to get everyone’s temperature and vaccination cards checked.
Del Rosario said in a statement it is being done due to limited space and the unique NAIA configuration where many arrival gates are far from each other.
He said there are some gates without Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) staff and thermal scanners.
BOQ staff go to the arriving aircraft to conduct a short medical briefing.
For those arriving at Terminals 1 and 3, their temperatures are checked in the BOQ scanning areas.
“The most STUPID thing is that vaccination from the USA is not considered as grounds for a shorter quarantine of 7 days. Only vaccinations in the Phil can grant you 7 days!” the passenger posted.
The OSS said the country does not have an internationally recognized vaccination certificate.
“As such, we have no means yet on validating the vaccinations given abroad,” the statement read.
Until there is an internationally accepted vaccination certification, authorities can only recognize vaccinations done in the Philippines, the OSS said.
The social media user also claimed to be ushered into a room where “THEY MADE SURE that we PRE-PAY the SWAB test to be conducted on the 7th day!”
The OSS answered noted that only non-overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are asked to prepay.
“Non-OFWs have to pay in advance to private laboratories (Detoxicare for Terminal 2 arrivals) in order to ensure the arrangement of testing schedule and data recording in preparation for their swabbing in the hotel on the seventh day. This is also to save time during the actual swabbing day as all paper works and billings had been done in the airport during arrival.”
Detoxicare is a Department of Health-registered laboratory, not an agent, the OSS clarified. It is just one of the authorized molecular laboratories in the airport.
Philippine Airlines also partnered with Detoxicare to conduct the Covid-19 tests of passengers at Terminal 2.
The social media user also complained about the cost of transportation (between PHP2,000 and PHP3,500) that took them to the hotel.
“The NAIA One-Stop-Shop procedure for transportation arrangements of non-OFWS is for hotel shuttles to pick them up at the airport. The arrangement of transportation for returning Filipinos aims to ensure that passengers will surely proceed to their designated quarantine facility,” according to the OSS.
The OSS noted numerous cases where passengers went home, disappeared, and did not check in at a quarantine facility.
“Those who will undergo quarantine are likewise allowed to make arrangements for a hotel to pick them up. It is only those who have no prior arrangements for hotel pickup that are advised to take the designated transportations arrangements,” the OSS clarified.
The OSS, meanwhile, belied the post that some passengers had to wait for their luggage “after lining up to prepay”.
Luggages are normally already lined up near the carousel where passengers can retrieve them, the OSS said. (PNA)
