(Eagle News) — The Bureau of Immigration has expressed support for the setting up of a “green lane” for foreign travelers vaccinated for COVID-19.
In a statement, bureau chief Jaime Morente said the bureau supports the Department of Tourism’s proposal “as it will not only resuscitate our tourism industry, it will also generate employment for millions of Filipinos who lost their jobs due to the pandemic.”
He said the setting up of a green lane will also hasten the revival of the commercial aviation and shipping industries whose businesses continued to suffer from the pandemic.
“Once these ‘green lanes’ are set up, operations in our international airports and seaports hopefully will begin to return to normal,” Morente said.
Nonetheless, he said the bureau “trusts the wisdom” of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases in deciding when the appropriate time is to open the country’s borders.
Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat has urged the IATF to approve the proposal to facilitate the re-employment of tourism workers and revive the tourism industry under safe conditions.
She said the scheme would allow vaccinated foreign travelers to visit the country for leisure as quarantine rules are being relaxed while the government undertakes a massive vaccination rollout for its citizens nationwide.
In arguing for the proposal, Romulo-Puyat also noted that the Philippines should also keep pace with its neighbors and the rest of the world in slowly reopening the country’s tourist destinations.
So far, travelers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Oman and the United Arab Emirates are banned from entering the Philippines.
The ban is expected to end on June 15.