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Confusing news statement about fully vaxxed entry

Discussion in 'News from The Philippines' started by billbo, Jan 26, 2022.

  1. billbo
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    billbo New Member

  2. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    The last announcement I read during the last week still has foreign tourists banned unless they have a valid pre-existing visa.

    This is the official announcement on the 13th to which your link is essentially referring IATF Resolution No. 157.docx (doh.gov.ph) and sadly we all still need a visa and it looks like we still need facility based quarantine for 5 days.

    Essentially they have eased the restrictions only for returning Filipinos i.e. mostly OFWs and Balikbayans.

    Philippines allows entry of Filipino travelers from 'red list' countries | Philstar.com
  3. Mattecube
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    Mattecube face the sunshine so shadows fall behind you Trusted Member

    I read it that the current restrictions remain the same as @oss has posted however on the 16th of Feb they will allow fully vaccinated
    in but there will be additional protocols to follow the article does not comment on the additional protocols so it's a case of watch out for updates around the 16th the protocols appear to be localised and different in regions depending on alert level.
    Last edited: Jan 26, 2022
  4. bigmac
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    bigmac Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    depending on alert level.

    or--could that be bung level ?
  5. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    As long as they have mandatory quarantine I don't think they will allow foreigners without a pre-applied for visa, once they resume the 30 day visa waiver on arrival that's when things are back to normal, currently the IATF Resolutions are the the only real guide so probably best to keep checking their site.

    Here IATF Resolutions | IATF (doh.gov.ph)
  6. Mattecube
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    Mattecube face the sunshine so shadows fall behind you Trusted Member

    I agree thats why I put watch out for updates however I did read somewhere this a.m. about protocol variations to be considered depending on local alert levels, I will dig it out and post it for info.

    They could actually be ramping up the vaccination requirements from the 16th.

    This link is a bit positive though
    https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/15453...metro-manila-new-alert-level-over-the-weekend
    Last edited: Jan 26, 2022
  7. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    The most promising link was the one Druk posted recently where some senior figures close to Duterte are saying they need to get realistic and reopen to tourism like a lot of other countries have done.
  8. Mattecube
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    Mattecube face the sunshine so shadows fall behind you Trusted Member

    Well it looked positive to me!
  9. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    Sorry I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm just commenting, on re-reading my posts it didn't come across that way.
    Last edited: Jan 27, 2022
  10. Mattecube
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    Mattecube face the sunshine so shadows fall behind you Trusted Member

    Yes I know you were not disagreeing, the difference to me is they have begun to put dates to plans whereas the Druk link was more an observation comment,
  11. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    The thing is they have to eventually acknowledge that they have just had a significant spike in cases which will have been almost exclusively Omicron and they never got a 'massive' spike in deaths or hospitalisations and right now it is looking like their case numbers are dropping again as is the death toll, so at some point they have to realise that they are pretty much over it.

    I mean don't get me wrong if they declared the Philippines open tomorrow I would still be wearing masks and be being very very careful if I were there, and I think the UK has relaxed its measures slightly too early as well but there is no denying that it is less lethal than it was although it is still significantly more lethal than influenza probably about 4 or 5 times more lethal than the flu but that has to be compared to it being up to 60 times more lethal than the flu 2 years ago.

    So hopefully they will wake up soon, I am hoping that they will make an announcement of full reopening within the next 4 weeks.
  12. Mattecube
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    Mattecube face the sunshine so shadows fall behind you Trusted Member

    Are you planning to go as soon as they do open up? Lord knows you've waited long enough.
  13. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    Flights are hard to get at acceptable prices on short notice so I expect to be booking a flight pretty much as soon as they open but I expect that to be for dates a couple of months down the road.

    I would also like the kids to be off school so we can get a proper holiday in the south so that puts it at early to late May earliest, we need to decide what school James will go to in October this year and I want to be able to go see the schools with him.
  14. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    Adding to my earlier reply I just checked some dates I might like on Emirates and it came back at 2600 return, only business class available on the way out and economy on the way back that's for late April to mid June which is way too much for me.

    I will still be applying for a visa but I hope without having to prove my relationship with the kids, the reason for the visa is that I want to get at least 6 weeks solid out there more than once over the coming 12 months so I don't want to apply for the visa too early so that I don't waste any of it.

    KLM is almost as bad at around £1900 but that's standard economy seats both ways, and the routes are not good, I think both my preferred carriers are non starters.

    And Singapore Airlines online booking appears to be gone with an flight inquiry form coming up rather than an actual search of schedules :(

    Qatar Airways seems the best at the moment with availability and prices less than £1000 never used them before
  15. Mattecube
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    Mattecube face the sunshine so shadows fall behind you Trusted Member

    is that with airlines dire ct sites or a mixture like with skyscanner
  16. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    I use Emirates, KLM and Singapore Airlines sites direct as I usually find the best result there and I don't like buying through any kind of agent so yeah all of those are direct.

    Qatar was on Skyscanner but that price has vanished now, there are cheaper deals on Skyscanner but a lot of them are complicated or long routes but in the end I might have to choose one of them.

    Direct on Qatar's site I get about £1700 for the flight I might want.

    Just checked Etihad direct on their site and they are £3200 :eek:
    Last edited: Jan 27, 2022
  17. billbo
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    billbo New Member

    This seems positive .. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1166589
    "Fully-vaccinated international travelers from countries with visa-free entry to the Philippines and returning overseas Filipinos (ROF) will no longer be required to quarantine, but must present a negative Covid-19 RT-PCR test results, Malacañang said Friday."


    The only part we might need to worry about in the UK is this statement

    "Nograles said international travelers must present proofs of Covid-19 vaccination, such as the World Health Organization International Certificates of Vaccination and Prophylaxis, VaxCertPH, or national/state digital certificates from foreign governments which has accepted VaxCertPH under a reciprocal arrangement, unless otherwise permitted by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases"
  18. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    We've been through this VaxCertPH discussion before, I think we have had a couple of members who travelled with a visa and who have had their vaccination status accepted when they arrived in the Philippines although at the time in November they had to quarantine.

    You are right this does appear to be the announcement that visa waiver travel will resume from Feb 1st I will try and see if there is any official site that has confirmation of this.

    edit: my earlier IATF link has the official details IATF Resolution No. 159.docx (doh.gov.ph)

    the "or" seems to imply that our NHS certification should be enough but in typical Philippine fashion its obfuscated enough to make it hard to know for sure.

    The visa waiver is restored from February 10th by the looks of it.

    upload_2022-1-28_9-26-1.png
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2022
  19. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    Replying to myself :) well it looks like they literally declared the Philippines open one day after this post or at least announced the upcoming reopening.

    IATF Resolution 159 was actually dated the 27th but it was not on their site yesterday when I last checked.
  20. JamesTM_
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    JamesTM_ Member

    Damn, The flights I was looking at back in December were for February 13th, I should have risked it and booked a flight. :( Theres flights for February on sky scanner for £1500 through a third party called "trip.com" looking at the reviews on trustpilot I'll give it a miss. I will probably aim for the end of April and hope some other variant doesnt pop up. Even after the good news im pessimistic.

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