The City Council is going to invite for a question and answer hour on Monday, June 8, representatives from the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) and different airline companies to discuss health safety protocols in line with the fight against COVID-19.
City Councilor Atty. Nesario Awat told Palawan Daily News (PDN) in an interview this invitation is aimed at crafting further health safety measures in preparation for the expected resumption of commercial air and sea transport.
“On my part, iminungkahi ko na ipatawag din ‘yong mga stakeholders, like ‘yong representative’s ng mga airlines natin kasama na ang PPA para nang sa gayon ay magkaroon ng Q and A baka makagawa kami ng ordinansa para naman sa protocols, another health standard once na magkaroon tayo ng commercial operations ng ating barko at eroplano, ‘yon ang ginagawa ng Sangguniang Panlungsod. Yes next week [sila iniimbitahan for Q and A],” said Awat.
Atty. Awat stated that while the City Council has already approved earlier this week a resolution requesting the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to consider temporarily suspending the resumption of commercial flights at Puerto Princesa International Airport (PPIA) until June 30, it is necessary that preparations be done for this impending operations.
On June 1 the plenary approved a motion requesting DOTr to give Puerto Princesa more time to prepare toward the proper management of commercial flights in the city, by moving its initial date of operation resumption from June 10 to only after June 30.
However, this measure requesting for temporary suspension of commercial flights until the end of June indicates that the air transport of returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs) and locally stranded individuals (LSIs) still be allowed.
Awat said they are hoping that after this month, the city is already in a more-prepared-and-equipped state to cater this resumption of commercial flights.