Amid the outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan, two ships from China arrived in Manila en route for Subic, but the vessels decided to leave on Tuesday, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said Tuesday.

The two ships were cleared by the Bureau of Quarantine, said Capt. Armand Balilo, PCG spokesman,

“Upon coordinating with the PCG port state control officers at Pier 15, they confirmed that both vessels were cleared and declared safe by the Bureau of Quarantine during mandatory inspections,” he said.

MV Ligulao, which is from Jiangsu, 900 kilometers from Wuhan.  has been berthed in Pier 15, South Harbor since Monday. Their 20 crew members were not given shore passes, said Balilo.

Balilo said MV Ligulao left Tuesday afternoon. 

The 778-passenger “World Dream Cruise Ship” from Hong Kong which arrived in Manila on Tuesday morning and was going to head to Subic, decided to return to Hong Kong tomorrow.

”The trip to Subic by cruise ship World Dream has been cancelled. They will leave tomorrow for Hong Kong,” said Balilo in a message to the Daily Manila Shimbun.    

No reason was given for the departure of the two Chinese ships but Subic Mayor Jonathan John Khonghun posted in his Facebook page a letter to Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority chairman Wilma Eisma ”to temporarily stop accepting cruise ships” from entering Subic due to ” threat being brought about by the 2019 Novel Corona Virus.”

”We are appealing to your good office to temporarily stop accepting cruise ships which are bound to enter the Subic Bay Freeeport Zone, until which time that the threat has been totally managed and contained.” said Khonghun.

Eisma’s reply was not immediately known. Robina Asido/DMS