r/Philippines

Aside from the rampant corruption and downgrade of our education system, napansin ko talaga simula nung na upo sya biglang nagkaroon confidence to voice out their opinions at stupid takes yung mga tao dito na sabihin na nating low IQ.

Case in point, classmate ko dati sa HS na hardcore DDS bulakbol at muntik na di maka graduate on time, suddenly thinks of himself as an expert of geopolitics kahit pasang awa sya dati sa Araling panlipunan, pero pag tinatapatan mo ng logical argument nag rerevert to ad hominem attacks.

Hello!

Share ko lang yung traumatic na nangyayari sakin right now. My mom works at Oman and I decided to visit her pre-conflict sa West Asia. I know nag release sa news na visa free daw mga pinoy don but apparently hindi pa effective. Nag book ako sa Oman Air ng flight ko. Tumawag ako sa Oman embassy ng January and February to confirm if need ng visa and as of now kailangan. So nag apply ako and everything and I got it first week ng March kasi lipad ko na ng first week ng April.

Sobrang excited ko nag post ako sa groups ng pwedeng mag join sakin kasi sobrang mahal ng mga tours sa kanila hindi kasi ganon ka public transpo friendly yung Oman. May nakilala ako na mag mother and son. Belgian passport holders. So nag plan kami ng itinerary and nakipag deal sa driver/tour guide. Paghahatian namin yung expense and everything. Di kasi makakasama yung mom ko sakin all the time na andon ako dahil may work siya and 2 days lang inapprove ng employers niya na pwede mag join sakin. So that's that.

Every week before my flight I check any emails from Oman air if there's an update because I know there's a lot of flight disruptions due to the conflict in West Asia. I even called the immigration and Oman air, if tourists bound to Oman is allowed and they said yes.

I bought pasalubongs, new clothes and even a new camera because I know I'm all set. On my flight day, which is 4 April, 2026. I arrived at 4:15 am PHT at NAIA Terminal 1. I lined up for baggage drop as I had already done online check-in. I was chatting with someone in the queue, and he said he was only passing through Muscat because he works in Dubai. Hisoriginal flight got canceled, and it’s so expensive now to book a flight from Muscat to Dubai, so he will travel by bus instead. We talked about the e-visa requirement for Filipinos, and he said, “Oh, actually, there’s a visa on arrival scheme for Filipinos,” to which I replied, “Yes, but I called Oman air and embassy, and they said e-visa is a requirement. So I just applied to be safe as I don’t want to be hassled”. He did not mention any HIV test medical certificate. To which, at this point, I didn’t have any idea that is needed at all.

It was my turn to go to the check-in counter, and I greeted the ground attendant and asked her, “Will I be presenting my e-visa here or just the passport?” To which she replied, “Yes, ma’am”. I handed her my e-visa and passport and she said: “Ma’am, for a tourist visa, you’ll need a HIV test certificate”. I was taken aback because I had zero knowledge that it was needed. I immediately thought I reached the check-in counter at 4:54 AM, the boarding is at 6:45, and I still need to pass through immigration, and there’s no way a HIV test will be available at the airport, nor how long it will take if there’s a nearby facility.

The ground attendant talked to her colleague, and she held my printed e-visa and was explaining it to another attendant. I saw her smiling, so I had a glimpse of hope that maybe she was mistaken, as my visa is only for 10 days. She sat down at her computer again, and she said, “Ma’am, you really need an HIV med cert because it’s a requirement of the Omani government”. I replied, “No one informed me about this. I didn’t receive any email or announcements about this. Does that mean I’m not going to fly today?”. She replied: “We only have information about check-ins here, and that’s the only information that we can provide. You can coordinate with the reservations. Unfortunately, ma’am, it’s a weekend; they are only open during weekdays.” A man showed me his phone from the counter, and I just took a picture of it.

I asked,” Will I need to pay for the rebooking because I really didn't expect this?“ She said, “It depends if your flight class is still available or if another flight class is available; then you will need to pay. This protocol is just new PARANG Feb or March. There are increasing cases of HIV in Oman, that’s why they are asking for it”. I left the counter baffled, didn't know what to feel. I wasn’t even able to ask where they announced because I knew I was holding up the line, and I felt the people were staring at me because they knew I had been declined for check-in.

Not knowing what to do, I researched on my phone the contact support of the Oman Air office in Terminal 1, as I would very much like to talk more to make sense of what had happened to me. I called and someone picked up. I explained the situation, and the contact person just said, “Contact the reservations for rebooking.” I said, “Yes, I understand that, but I know I will need to pay for that. I didn’t know that the HIV test was needed. I didn't receive any email or anything.” To which she replied, “It’s impossible that there were no announcements, and I don’t know why you didn’t see it. All travelers going to check in have an HIV test medical certificate”. I plead, is there anything that I can do to fly today? She just said to coordinate with the reservations for rebooking. I booked my Grab to go home, feeling confused, hopeless, and, to be honest, angry because I had time to do it if only I knew, but there were no announcements or anything.

When I got home, I tried reaching out to Atlys' support, the one who provided my e-visa. I asked them if they were aware. They said no, as they only process visas, and an HIV test is not a requirement to get a visa; that’s why they were able to process it normally. I bought a load to call international to Oman Air’s contact support in Oman, and they said I should reach out to Oman Air locally because they don’t have any information about my issue. I asked my friends to research with me if I really missed the announcement, but none of them saw any announcement from any source that a short-term visa, like a tourist visa, needs a HIV test.

I checked all possible resources: https://www.omanair.com/en_ph, https://www.fm.gov.om/en/missions/om-ph-manila-em/, https://www.fm.gov.om/en/ including their social media, nothing.

I reported this to NAIA, CAB and the Oman embassy. The embassy just told me as "this is an unfortunate even that happened to you but we cannot do anything about it because if you would've called last March you would've known." I called Oman air reservations and they said they can rebook for me but will need to pay a fee or refund but you need to pay for a fee too.

The belgian passport holders messaged me today and they arrived in Muscat with absolutely no problem. Dahil Philippine passport holder ako need ko iprove na hindi ako threat sa Oman na hindi ako magkakalat ng HIV dyan at ng iba pang disease. Sobrang unfair dahil lang Pinoy ako. Iyak ako ng iyak kasi ang helpless sa feeling pinagipunan ko tong trip ko for 6 months tapos walang nangyari. Ayoko na lang pumunta don. Gusto ko na lang irefund nila yung ticket ko. Ayoko pumunta sa bansa na tingin sa pinoy magkakalat ng HIV.