THE DAVAO International Airport is now open to all kinds of flights after the city government issued an order on May 5 lifting earlier restrictions imposed to mitigate the spread of coronavirus.
“The resumption of all kinds of flights, such as scheduled international flights, unscheduled domestic commercial flights (chartered), and other general aviation flights to and from Davao City is hereby allowed,” reads Executive Order No. 26 signed by Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio.
The order comes after the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, which manages the airport, requested in a May 4 letter to the mayor for a resumption of full operations to “allow for more economic activities insofar as civil aviation is concerned.”
All incoming passengers are still required to have a negative RT-PCR test result for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) taken within 72 hours before arrival.
Those who are unable to bring a result will be subject to testing at the airport and pay the P4,500 cost.
Passengers who present a false or tampered result will also be required to undergo testing at their own expense, placed in a quarantine facility, and pay fines based on local and national laws.
The Davao airport, formally named Francisco Bangoy International Airport, is the only one in Davao Region and serves as one of the main gateways in Mindanao.
Davao Region, with a population of at least five million, has managed to keep COVID-19 cases relatively low with 912 active patients as of May 5 out of the 23,613 total recorded since the start of the pandemic. There were 987 deaths and 21,752 recoveries.
Of the active cases, Davao City had the highest at 356, followed by Davao del Norte with 257 and Davao de Oro with 159. The rest are in Davao del Sur, 68; Davao Oriental, 23; and Davao Occidental, 11. — Marifi S. Jara