Solon questions US travel advisory for PH

From the Philippine News Agency (Feb 3, 2022): Solon questions US travel advisory for PH (By Filane Mikee Cervantes)

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A leader of the House of Representatives on Thursday urged Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. to seek a formal explanation from the United States (US) Embassy on the State Department’s “Do Not Travel” recommendation to the American citizens bound for the Philippines.

In a letter addressed to Locsin, House Economic and Stimulus Recovery Cluster chair Joey Salceda recommended that Locsin's office summon the US Ambassador, or at the very least request a formal and official explanation.

The US State Department's advisory was released on Wednesday due to “a very high level of Covid-19 in the country” and “due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, and kidnapping.”

Salceda questioned the issuance of the advisory, considering that the Philippines is statistically safer than the US in terms of Covid-19 risks.

He noted that there are six times more deaths per million in the US due to Covid-19 than there are in the Philippines (2,633.47 versus 495.01 throughout the pandemic).

He said over the past week, there have been only 4.73 deaths per million in the Philippines due to Covid-19, versus 40.63 deaths per million in the US over the same period.

“In other words, one is significantly more likely to die in the US due to Covid-19 than one is in the Philippines. In fact, more Filipino healthcare workers died in the United States due to Covid-19, than in the Philippines,” Salceda wrote Locsin.

Salceda also took issue with the security angle of the advisory as the security concerns cited appear inconsistent with the renewed presence of American forces in the country.

"The security concerns noted, especially terrorism, are mutual concerns of the Philippines and the United States, due to our Mutual Defense Treaty, and especially as we recently renewed our Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the US,” Salceda said.

He said the main rationale for the VFA is to make the Philippines safer and more secure.

"Throwing the security situation of the Philippines into question also undermines the supposed security benefits of the VFA,” he added.

Salceda also cited the potential adverse effects of the advisory on tourism considering that the US is the third-largest source of foreign tourists to the Philippines.

"There are also more Overseas Filipino Workers in the United States than in any other country in the world. The travel advisory will almost certainly have an undeserved dampening or even chilling effect on tourism recovery – achieving the impact of an economic sanction without the geopolitical consequences of declaring one,” Salceda said.

Salceda also said the US should reciprocate the Philippines’ more relaxed Covid-19 travel restrictions.

“The Philippine Government’s decision to relax foreign entry restrictions even to countries like the United States was a demonstration of goodwill on our part – a gesture that deserves at least a fair and commensurate response from our supposed friends and allies,” he said.

In subsequent remarks, Salceda also said he hopes the US will be fairer with its threat assessments, considering that the Philippines is also opening its trade and investment environment up to US nationals.

The Philippines will allow fully vaccinated international tourists from visa-free countries, beginning February 10, provided that they present a negative RT-PCR test taken within 48 hours prior to departure from the country of origin.

To date, a total of 157 countries enjoy visa-free entry privileges to the Philippines, including some of its top tourist markets such as South Korea, Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1167012