Suspension of inbound flights to be lifted earlier — Galvez

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 6) -- Overseas Filipino workers and other passengers flying in from abroad will be allowed entry to the country beginning Friday — or earlier than originally announced — an official said.

In a public briefing Wednesday, National Task Force COVID-19 Chief Implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez said all inbound passengers will be accommodated starting May 8, as the temporary restrictions on flights will be lifted.

"Pero i-lilimit lang po natin to 400 to 500 po, para at least, kayang-kaya po nating i-manage," Galvez said.

[Translation: But we will limit it to 400 to 500 passengers, so we will be able to manage them.]

The Department of Transportation earlier announced the suspension of international inbound passenger flights from May 3 to 9 on Galvez' request.

Meanwhile, the Task Force chief implementer maintained that the government has not imposed limitations on outbound flights.

Earlier, he explained that the moratorium was imposed to ramp up the capacity of the government to properly process the growing number of Filipinos being brought home on a daily basis.

Read more: CNN Philippines