MANILA, Philippines — Third-party individuals and middlemen who take advantage of the required quarantine for repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) face “legal repercussions” should they mark up hotel room rates because of the COVID-19 lockdown.
“The Department firmly denounces this practice as it strongly encourages accommodation establishments to offer their best rates possible, with no room for third-party negotiators that compound the best and barest rates,” said Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat in a statement on Tuesday.
The Department of Tourism (DOT) is in charge of identifying and accrediting hotels, inns and other establishments for OFWs who could not immediately return to their home provinces or were required to undergo a 14-day quarantine to make sure they were not infected with the coronavirus.
—Jerome Aning