Philippine COVID-19 authorities ‘not in touch with realities in Gulf countries’ – migrant labor expert

Overseas Filipino workers from the Gulf region particularly those who plan to visit only for a short periods, have been clamoring for the Philippine government to ease coronavirus quarantine requirements. (AFP)

• The Philippines’ COVID-19 response task force has included 46 countries and jurisdictions in its updated ‘green’ list
• But countries in the Gulf region, who have huge populations of Filipino workers, remain excluded from the list

DUBAI: Philippine authorities dealing with the coronavirus pandemic are not attuned to the COVID-19 situation in Gulf countries, further exasperating overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the region who want to have a hassle-free return home, a migrant expert said.
“They do not keep in touch with the realities happening in Gulf countries,” migrant labor expert Emmanuel Geslani told Arab News, adding that  that this could be the reason why Gulf states continue to be excluded from the Philippines’ green list of countries with less stringent quarantine protocols.
“The low COVID-19 incidence [in Gulf countries] must be seriously studied and considered, so that OFWs, especially those taking just short breaks, who want to go home, do not have to worry about quarantine requirements,’ Geslani said.
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the lead group dealing with the Philippines’ COVID-19 response, has included 46 countries and jurisdictions in its updated ‘green’ list, most of whom have low OFW densities – as well as Hong Kong, China and New Zealand where the numbers of workers are high.
Those outside the green list were automatically in the yellow list, including all Gulf and Middle East countries where a huge number of expatriate Filipino workers are present. Latvia was the only country in the red list, where no travelers would be allowed entry.
Fully vaccinated OFWs originating from yellow-listed countries must stay in a hotel or a facility for quarantine until they receive a negative PCR test taken on their fifth day upon arrival. They are then required to undergo home quarantine until their 10th day.
They can opt to forgo institutional quarantine if they provide a negative PCR test result within 72 hours prior their flight, but must self-monitor for any symptom until their 14th day in the country.
“I would like to know the Philippines’ basis why the UAE and other Gulf countries remain on the yellow list, considering these countries have some of the highest vaccination rates already,” according to Shiloh, who asked Arab News to only use his first name.
COVID-19 cases in Gulf states have fallen drastically due to their aggressive inoculation programs, with just 41 infections reported in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, 81 in the UAE on Sunday, while only 12 cases were reported in Kuwait on Sunday.
The Abu Dhabi-based facilities supervisor, together with his fellow Filipino officemates, said that it has been an emotional roller coaster particularly for those who have families back home and have not been there for the last 30 months.
“We feel frustration, anger and even acceptance … but the bottomline is nobody is happy that we cannot go home,” he said.
Margerie, an office manager from Abu Dhabi, is particularly angered by the prolonged quarantine requirement for OFWs, considering she can only manage a short visit to check on her parents – who have been ill recently – as well as her daughters.
“I support the quarantine [requirements] for the safety of our loved ones, but not at the expense of the quality of our stay. About three days [of quarantine] would have been fine by me, it would even cost the government less,” she told Arab News.
The Philippine government pays for the institutional quarantine of returning OFWs, including their meals during the duration of their hotel stay and travel costs to their home destinations.
“Despite the expensive ticket prices, they have gone up almost three times, I would want to go home just to spend time with my family, but I would be left with just a few days to enjoy with them because of the quarantine requirements,” Margerie added.
Flight fares have risen as Philippine officials have limited the daily capacity of airlines as part of protocols to address coronavirus safety, hence limited options meant costlier air travel.
“I understand that PAL (Philippine Airlines) for is allowed only 650 seats daily which is enough to fill only two A330 aircraft it operates. I do not know with other airlines operating from the Gulf region,” Geslani said.
PAL earlier cancelled its Manila-Dubai-Cebu flights on Oct. 31 and Manila-Dubai-Manila flights on Nov. 1 and 2 due to what it described as “flight restrictions imposed by local authorities” related to the new COVID-19 green list.
“These cancellations and adjustments are beyond PAL’s control and prevent us from serving the urgent travel needs of our OFWs and other passengers,” the airline said.
“We urgently appeal to the Philippine and Dubai authorities to work towards resolving the situation so we may again be able to operate our planned schedule of flights to and from Dubai and make use of all our seats onboard each flight,” it added.