Personnel in charge of processing returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs) must follow the local protocols and ignore quarantine and swab testing rules of the national government’s COVID-19 task force (IATF), Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia said during a press conference on Monday, June 21. 

She reiterated her stance that the province’s quarantine of one to two days with swab upon arrival should be enforced as the policy at the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA), as facility was within the jurisdiction of the provincial government. 

“The provincial ordinance, which adopted the protocols which I set forth in Executive Order 17, is the law of the land at this point in time because no one has questioned it, no one has gone to court, much less has it been declared ultra vires (beyond its authority) by a proper court,” Garcia said.  

“We are a government of laws, not of men. And so it is not about someone saying that the provincial ordinance is null and void because it goes against a particular resolution issued by IATF,” she added.

Not only did the governor order personnel to disregard the IATF’s policy, she also said that any personnel of government agencies who does not follow the provincial protocol may face administrative and criminal charges such as serious illegal detention and disobedience to a person in authority.

She also released Executive Order No. 23 on Monday “reminding” personnel to follow the province’s ordinance on OFW testing and quarantine. 

As of Monday airport personnel already reverted to Cebu’s swab-upon-arrival policy. 

Garcia reiterated that she remained committed to Cebu’s own policy because local experts know the situation on the ground better than the IATF. She added that the prolonged quarantine puts difficult emotional and financial strain on OFWs and ROFs.

During a Senate hearing last June 15, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año said that the local government must conform to national policy and not the other way around.

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Earlier Monday, the Department of Health reiterated the need for the country to implement “uniform” quarantine policies to stop the entry of the more communicable Delta variant of the coronavirus, which was first detected in India. 

Also on Monday, Cebu-based lawyers filed a petition at the Cebu City Regional Trial Court to get an injunction against the IATF’s quarantine rules. The lawyers filed the petition as individuals and not as representatives of the province. 

They pointed out they believed that by not swabbing OFWs and ROFs upon arrival, the IATF is automatically assuming that arrival date is “day one” of the incubation period.

“What is highly questionable is the assumption set forth by respondent as to when to reckon the first day for purposes of determining the seventh day viral load which is the date of arrival of returning OFWs and ROFs, which is clearly not empirical evidence,” the petition read.

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Senators Richard Gordon, Pia Cayetano, Kiko Pangilinan, Risa Hontivero and Bong Revilla, among others, expressed support for Cebu’s quarantine rules and said the province should be allowed to implement its own border control policies.

The province’s previous defiance of IATF quarantine orders prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to sign a memorandum ordering the rerouting of flights from Cebu to Manila from May 29 to June 12.

Garcia previously said that her custom policies were not in defiance of IATF rules but merely “innovate” them. – Rappler.com