Flag carrier Philippine Airlines is offering free Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction or RT-PCR tests to the Filipino workers arriving from the Middle East.
PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said from Dec. 21 to 31, the RT-PCR test will be given to migrant workers and their dependents with the results released within 24 hours upon their arrival at the airport.
“Land-based OFWs and their dependents departing from Dubai, Doha, Dammam, and Riyadh and Bahrain may now avail of PAL’s own One-Stop Shop facility for their complimentary RT-PCR tests upon arrival,” Villaluna said.
The 24-hour turnaround time for the RT-PCR tests leads to a shorter quarantine isolation period of no more than one night, as compared to the two to five days by the other testing centers.
Villaluna said PAL made the special holiday treat exclusively to migrant Filipino workers and their dependents as a way of thanking the country’s modern-day heroes.
She said the quick release of the results would allow “our modern-day heroes to maximize the time they spend with their families during the Christmas and New Year season.”
The Philippine government, through the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, will continue to handle the quarantine hotel accommodations of all arriving workers.
Passengers on PAL flights must register with PAL’s electronic Case Investigation Form as early as three days before departure at https://bit.ly/MNLPALeCIF.
The airline’s OSS facility at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 is operated under a partnership with the government-accredited Detoxicare Molecular Diagnostics.