135 stranded foreigners in NegOr opt to stay
DUMAGUETE CITY – The City Tourism Office has said 135 foreigners are stranded in Negros Oriental following the cancellation of trips from here to Metro Manila and Cebu after the declaration of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) crisis.
The province entered its first day of the 14-day ECQ on Friday.
City Tourism Officer Jacqueline Antonio on Thursday afternoon said the majority of them, of different nationalities, “have opted to stay here, some with their families, in resorts and Air BnB accommodations”.
Except for five of them, the rest did not request quarantine pass, a requirement for a person to be able to leave their homes/residences/temporary accommodations, while the province is under ECQ status, she said.
Many have flights out after April 16, and onwards through May, she added, but the ECQ will be lifted only on April 18 so they will have to find a way how to get some of the tourists out of the province earlier.
Antonio said that these foreigners are hoping to leave on their original flights out.
With combined efforts with the Provincial Tourism Office, Antonio said they had facilitated from March 20-28 the transfer of 583 foreigners to the Mactan-Cebu International Airport in Cebu so they could depart the country and return to their respective destinations.
She said the Tourism Office has been instructed “to avoid personal contact” with these foreigners but they keep in touch via text messaging or mobile phone calls “in case they have difficulties in the next two weeks”.
Most of their concerns were about visa extension, which has been resolved, Antonio said.
The Bureau of Immigration has waived penalty for expired visas except if one’s visa had expired before the imposition of the enhanced community quarantine, and once the ECQ is lifted, they have 30 days to submit their visa extension application, she added. (PNA)
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