Go reminds Boracay tourists, residents to keep following health rules

Sen. Christopher Go (Photo from his office)

MANILA, Philippines — Tourists and residents of recently reopened Boracay should not let their guard down even as authorities eased the travel restrictions to the world-famous island of Malay town in Aklan.

Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, issued the reminder in his online video address to residents of Barangay Mano-Manoc in Malay, where members of his staff distributed a second round of aid to some 300 victims of a fire that hit the area late last year.

“Boracay has been reopened. So my request is for you to please follow the rules to protect your health and your livelihood,” he said in Filipino, as quoted in a statement issued on Saturday. “It’s important for us to return to a normal mode of living. But it’s more important to protect the life of every Filipino.”

“Let’s not be overconfident. We’re balancing everything — the economy and our source of livelihood,” he added.

He repeated the prescribed methods for protections against COVID-9 — frequent handwashing, observing social distancing, and refraining from leaving home unless really necessary.

Boracay began accepting tourists last Oct. 1 after months of closure due to travel restrictions and other quarantine measures imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

The opening is a result of a special meeting of the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force (BIATF), led by its chair, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, with the Department of Interior and Local Government, and Department of Tourism, and the Aklan provincial government.

Among the requirements for visitors is a negative result of a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)  test 48 to 72 hours before traveling to the island.

In his video address last Thursday, Go repeated the assurance of President Rodrigo Duterte that the poor would be prioritized to get the COVID-19 vaccine once already available.

His staff also distributed bicycles to select beneficiaries and tablets for students to use in their online classes.

Representatives from the National Housing Authority were also present to enroll victims in the Emergency Housing Assistance Program.

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