COVID-19 test booths charges OFWs arriving from abroad up to P20,000 fee - Red Cross

On Sunday, the Philippine Red Cross said that Filipinos arriving from abroad are supposedly being charged up to P20,000 for a faster release of their COVID-19 test results.

Photo credit: benarnews.com

PRC chairman Sen. Richard Gordon who also chairs the Philippine Red Cross (PRC), said the non-government organization was allowed to enter the country's international airports in Manila, Clark, and Cebu as many overseas Filipino workers and passengers were already complaining about the fees being asked for their COVID-19 test.

Sa airport, wala kaming pwesto dun, hanggang four days ago naglagay na ako ng pwesto, nakiusap na ako dahil umaangal na lahat yung mga OFW at mga pasahero,

Gordon said.

[At the airport, we didn't have a place there, until four days ago I put a place (testing center), I begged because all the OFWs and passengers were already complaining.]

May nagtext sa'kin galing Washington DC. Ang sabi, ang charge sa kanya P10,000. Mukhang may nabebendisyunan doon,

he added.

[Someone from Washington DC texted me and said he/she was charged P10,000. It seems someone there is benefitting from this.]

Isa pa (Another one said), 'My sister paid P7,000 to get the results in 24 hours. Naghintay siya (she waited) beyond 24 hours and got it only after she expressed her rage... For 12 hours, it costs P10,000, and for 6 hours, it costs P20,000.

Gordon believes that passengers are being diverted to testing booths that charge higher fees because there are entities who take commissions out of these tests. He wants it to be investigated adding that the entity conducting these tests is from a private organization.

Some 6,000 repatriates are stranded in Metro Manila because of the testing delay as a result of the halted PRC service, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III earlier said as the Philippine Coast Guard switched to manual encoding.

The Red Cross earlier pulled out its coronavirus testing service to government due to PhilHealth's nearly P1 billion unpaid dues.