The Civil Service Commission (CSC) has released guidelines for foreign and local scholars of the government who are scheduled to return to their local place of residence or assignment this year upon completion of their studies.

CSC Resolution No. 2000778 promulgated on 3 September 2020 states that returning scholars shall be covered by the Guidelines for Interzonal Movement or Section 7 of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) Omnibus Guidelines. Said guidelines prescribe that returning non-Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), which include returning scholars, “who have been issued a DOH or LGU certificate of completion of fourteen (14)-day facility-based quarantine, those who may be required to undergo a mandatory fourteen (14)-day home quarantine, or those who are issued with travel authority upon testing negative for COVID-19 whichever is earlier, shall be granted unhampered transit across zones en route to their final destination in the Philippines.”

Returning scholars are also covered by CSC Memorandum Circular No. 8, s. 2020 (Revised Interim Guidelines on the Use of Leave Credits for Absences Due to Quarantine and/or Treatment Relative to COVID-19) which grants them paid quarantine leave.

Under Item 3.4.1 of the said CSC circular: “Absence from work during the fourteen (14) calendar days required quarantine period and treatment for COVID-19, shall be considered as excused absence (required quarantine leave and/or COVID19 treatment leave).”

Expenses to be incurred from post-travel quarantine procedures of returning foreign and local scholars will be shouldered by the agency, as further stated in CSC Resolution No. 2000778.

The said resolution shall take effect on 27 September 2020 or 15 days after it was published in a newspaper of general circulation.