Unvaccinated foreigners against COVID-19 will allowed to enter the Philippines if they can present a negative antigen test taken 24 hours before departure.

The unvaccinated foreigner can also take an antigen test upon arriving into the Philippines, said Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco after the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Frasco said during the Cabinet meeting that ''the remainder of stringent protocols such as the requirement of pre-departure testing into the Philippines in the form of an RT-PCR would also be removed.''

In a press statement, the Department of Tourism said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will issue an Executive Order that will allow fully vaccinated visitors coming to the Philippines to be allowed entry into the country without the COVID-19 test requirement.

Frasco said the One Health Pass ''would be removed as already publicly announced.

The e-Arrival platform would replace this. Frasco said '' the interface is now user-friendly.'' ''Twenty questions that used to be in place have now reduced to 10, specifically those that are tourism-related.''

''We are optimistic that with all of these restrictions being lifted by the Marcos administration that this can only be redound to the benefit of the lives of millions of Filipinos that serve to benefit as well from the reinvigoration of the tourism industry,'' said Frasco. DMS