Roque: Cebu-bound flights diverted to Manila until June 12

The government has extended the diversion of international flights initially bound for Cebu to Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila until June 12, Malacañang announced Tuesday.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the extended diversion of flights was contained in a memorandum dated June 5 issued by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea .

“A memo was issued on June 5 to ensure that the quarantine protocols for the resumption of international flights to Cebu approved by the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force) will be fully and seamlessly implemented by June 13,” Roque said.

Prior to the diversion of such flights to Manila, Cebu has been implementing quarantine protocols for returning Filipinos and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) different from the IATF-approved policy.

Cebu subjects returning Filipinos and OFWs to RT-PCR test upon arrival, and allows them to go home when they test negative for COVID-19.

Under the IATF-approved quarantine protocols, returning Filipinos and OFWs are subjected to an RT-PCR test on the seventh day of quarantine in a government facility. Once they tested negative, they will finish the remainder of the 14-day quarantine at home.

Given the difference, the government diverted the Cebu-bound flights to Manila  from May 29 to June 5 to curb COVID-19 transmission.

President Rodrigo Duterte and Cebu governor Gwen Garcia met over the differing quarantine protocols last week but it was only today, June 8, that Roque announced how the impasse was resolved through a memo by Medialdea.—AOL, GMA News