Why The Philippines Is Partially Lifting Its Travel Ban Into South Korea

In a recent development, travelers from the Philippines can yet again fulfill their Korean “travel goals” as they are allowed to visit parts of the virus-hit country. The travel ban had been deemed “partial” since North Gyeongsang Province, ground-zero for the outbreak in South Korea, remains off-limits to Filipinos.

CNN reported that it was Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo who confirmed the government's partial lifting of the travel ban. It was also added that the Philippine Inter-agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases approved Filipinos to once again travel to South Korea, provided that they sign a health declaration saying that they have full knowledge of the risks involved on their trip.

Authorities have earlier issued a full ban on travel to the Asian country on account of the outbreak in North Gyeongsang Province. The government enacted the partial lifting of the ban after Filipinos who study, work, or live in South Korea appealed to the government. In light of this, authorities have also agreed not to impose any additional travel restrictions to travelers going to mainland China or its special administrative regions Macau and Hong Kong.

The move to lift the travel ban may have also been affected by a letter which was sent by Filipino workers as well as the Philippine community living in Taiwan. According to ABS-CBN News, the Philippine government has issued a travel ban to Taiwan on account of the coronavirus outbreak, but a letter was sent by the more than 400 Filipino employees of a Taiwanese food manufacturing company appealing for the lifting of the ban.

In the letter, the employees said that they are appealing to the government to allow migrant workers to once again travel to the country. Most of them are under work contracts which, if not fulfilled, might have strict stipulations and penalties.

Given the situation, the Philippine government has restructured its earlier announcements of total travel bans on the countries involved. The Philippines remains among few countries in the world that have the least number of persons affected by COVID-19, with cases in the country remaining at three and a single casualty. All these persons are Chinese nationals from Wuhan, the epicenter of the Chinese outbreak.