Filipino Dota 2 Players Are Stuck in Romania After TI10

Update: Paolo Bago, the performance coach of Fnatic, tweeted on 20th Oct 2021 that three members of the Filipino group, including Kuku and Karl (both T1 members) are now heading home to the Philippines. He added that five more people are still in Romania but flights have already been arranged for them. Bago explained that according to the rules of The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), they are allowed to enter the Philippines, but some coordination issues prevented them from boarding earlier.

Edit: A previous version of the story incorrectly mentioned Jabz instead of Raven, as one of the players who was stuck in Romania. This has since been rectified.

Several Filipino Dota 2 players who competed at The International 10 (TI10) are allegedly stuck in Romania and are unable to return home. Fnatic's Team Director, Eric "ReiNNNN" Khor, shared this information via Twitter where he also tagged Philippines institutions and a former senator as potential sources who may be able to provide help. As ReiNNNN pointed out in a comment on his Twitter post, the Philippines placed Romania on the Red List on 16th Oct 2021, but the return flights of the Philippines TI10 group were arranged for 18th and 19th Oct 2021.

Philippines (PH) TI10 players along with a staff member encounter difficulties returning from Romania

The Philippines group that is unable to return consists of the following individuals:

1. Carlo "Kuku" Palad (T1)

2. Karl "Karl" Jayme (T1)

3. Djardel Jicko B. "DJ" Mampusti (Fnatic)

4. Marc Polo Luis "Raven" Fausto (Fnatic)

5. Abed “Abed” Azel L. Yusop (Evil Geniuses)

6. Paolo Bago (Performance Coach, Fnatic)

As a follow-up to ReiNNNN's tweet, Paolo Bago said that things are starting to look up. He wished to thank to those who had helped so far, including the Philippines consuls in Berlin and Budapest.

All these individuals were a part of TI10, which was held in Bucharest, Romania from 7th to 17th Oct 2021. However, the Philippine Bureau of Immigration categorized Romania as a Red List country in an advisory dated 16th Oct 2021. As a result, passengers returning from Romania may not be allowed entry into the Philippines.

It should be noted that there is an exception for this in which “returning Filipinos via government-initiated, non-government-initiated, and the Bayanihan repatriation flights” may be allowed entry, “subject to testing and quarantine protocols.” These are:

“Returning Filipinos shall undergo fourteen (14)- day quarantine [10-day facility-based and home quarantine until completion] and be required an RT-PCR test on the seventh day, with the date of arrival being the first day.”

This advisory is in effect from 16th to 31st Oct 2021.

In Romania, the number of virus cases has surged in the past few weeks. Due to this increase, Valve had to cancel the live audience that was supposed to attend the Main Event at the Arena Nationala Stadium in Bucharest, Romania from 12th to 17th Oct 2021. Additionally, a few days before TI10 began, members of Team Aster and Invictus Gaming were diagnosed with the virus. Later, during the Main Event, Valve confirmed via Twitter that two individuals present at the event had tested positive for the virus.