Filipino players can’t fly home from the International 10 due to COVID-19

Eric “ReiNNNN” Khor, the team director of Fnatic, posted a tweet regarding the situation surrounding Filipino players and their return flights from The International 10. Due to a new mandate set by the Filipino government, Filipino players and the team staff are “stuck in Romania after TI,” ReiNNNN said.

filipino #TI10 players @DjardelJicko @ravendoto @abedyusop @kukudota @karldota and team staff @killthemage stuck in romania after TI. they are unable to return to the PH. can anyone help? @DFAPHL @ABSCBN @bamaquino

— Eric Khor (ReiNNNN) (@ReiNNNN) October 19, 2021

Filipino players cannot fly back from The International 10

Filipino Dota 2 players are unable to fly back to their home country from The International 10 due to a new mandate passed by the Filipino government. The Filipino immigration authority set the mandate on Oct. 14, updating a list of designated yellow and red countries. The mandate came into effect three days before the end of the International 10 and made it impossible for anyone from Romania to fly into the Philippines. The mandate stems from the rising COVID-19 numbers in Romania. The country has hit a peak of 10,000 COVID-19 cases as of October 17, 2021.

The photo below shows the specific information on the mandate set by the Filipino immigration authority:

According to ReiNNNN, there are several Filipino players that are currently stranded in Romania without hope of flying back until the new mandates are lifted. These players are:

Djardel “DJ” Mampusti (Fnatic)
Marc “Raven” Polo Luis Fausto (Fnatic)
Abed “Abed” Azel L. Yusop (Evil Geniuses)
Karl “Karl” Baldovino (T1)
Carlo “Kuku” Palad (T1)

At the moment, the only option for these players to fly back to the Philippines is to fly to another country approved for travel into the Philippines, quarantine in a hotel for the quarantine period and then fly back. However, that option is too expensive for most players and teams. The above tweet also openly asks for help from Filipino authorities to get the players home. However, as of this report, there is no additional information on the situation.