All sweeper flights to and from Negros Oriental via the Dumaguete-Sibulan airport have been canceled from Aug. 4 until Aug. 18.
Airport manager and local Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines chief, Mark Diamaoden, in an interview Tuesday, said this is in line with the declaration of Metro Manila under a modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) for the same period.
Following President Rodrigo Duterte’s announcement reverting Metro Manila and other nearby areas to MECQ, the CAAP canceled domestic flights that would have ferried locally-stranded individuals (LSIs).
Diamaoden, however, said evening sweeper flights arranged by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are exempted from the cancellation as ordered by National Task Force Against Covid-19 chief implementer, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr.
Last month, Philippine Airlines had once-a-day sweeper flights every Tuesday through Friday, while Cebu Pacific, in the last two weeks of July, also had a once-a-week schedule, he said.
Sweeper flights carrying OFWs have arrived in Negros Oriental every night since July and this is expected to continue this month, Diamaoden said.*JFP/PNA
