Travel to and within the Philippines remains heavily restricted and regulated. However, following a government resolution, some provinces are beginning to open up to fully vaccinated travelers. As such, the country’s largest carrier, Cebu Pacific, will now begin accepting vaccination cards instead of PCR test results on some domestic routes.
Fully vaccinated to skip testing
Philippine low-cost airline Cebu Pacific announced Tuesday it would now accept vaccination certificates instead of negative PCR tests to three destinations in its domestic network. These are Bacolod, Cauayan City of Isabela province, and Tacloban.
“Passengers are considered fully-vaccinated at least 14 days after having received the second dose in a two-dose series, or at least 14 days after having received a single-dose vaccine,” Cebu Pacific said in a statement yesterday.
The decision comes following resolution number 124-B of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), which was announced on Sunday, July 4th.
This allows fully vaccinated travelers to move more freely within zones, as well as between some provinces. However, local government units, or LGUs, may decide if they still wish to implement quarantine requirements.
“We believe this is an opportunity for all stakeholders to collaborate as we work toward the same goal – and that is to safely reopen domestic travel again,” commented Alex Reyes, Chief Strategy Officer at Cebu Pacific.
S-PaSS
Cebu Pacific has urged passengers to stay updated and check the entry requirement for their specific destinations. Some provinces require passengers to upload their COVID-19 vaccination card three days before arrival to a portal developed by the Department of Science and Technology called S-PaSS.
S-PaSS stands for Safe, Swift, and Smart Passage. It was launched in March this year to facilitate the travel of local Filipino workers, those returning from overseas, local tourists, and business travelers moving from one province to another. On the portal, there is information about current restrictions, and travelers can also upload any documents required by their destination.
Waiting for vaccination to pick up
As travel in the Philippines remains a mere fraction of its pre-COVID self, half of Cebu Pacific’s fleet of 52 aircraft is still grounded. However, the airline is currently operating flights to 32 domestic destinations out of its Manila and Cebu hubs.
The airline celebrated its 25th birthday earlier this year. While circumstances could surely have been more well-suited to such an occasion, the carrier has managed to secure loans and financing of over $500 million to keep it afloat while awaiting better times.
As of July 4th, 8.2% of the population in the Philippines had received one dose of COVID vaccine, while 2.7% had been fully vaccinated. The country mostly uses China-made Sinovac while also administering a limited amount of Pfizer vaccines. The authorities have implemented a ‘vaccination agnostic’ strategy after chaos erupted when information was released about which locations would administer Pfizer.
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