WELCOME TO THE ISLAND Boracay’s crystal clear waters and white beaches attract an increasing number of tourists despite strict health and travel restrictions. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
AKLAN, Philippines — The six tourists in Boracay, who were quarantined after five of them submitted falsified negative COVID-19 swab test results, all came out negative for the virus but will still face criminal charges.
Aklan provincial administrator Selwyn Ibarreta, head of the provincial COVID-19 Technical Working Group, said the results of the real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests conducted on the tourists were released on Saturday.
The tourists, all from Metro Manila, are still at the provincial quarantine center in the capital town of Kalibo. They were brought there from their hotel in Boracay on Dec. 7 after authorities found that five of them had submitted falsified negative RT-PCR test results based on one that was genuine.
Tourists going to the island are required to submit a negative RT-PCR test result released within 72 hours before their trip.
Ibarreta said the six tourists had requested to be discharged from the quarantine center after the negative test results were released. He said he was still waiting for the decision of Gov. Florencio Miraflores.
Violation
But even if they are discharged, the tourists will still be facing criminal complaints to be filed in the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office on Monday.
They will be charged for violating Republic Act No. 11332, or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act, and for falsification of documents, said Police Lt. Col. Jonathan Pablito, police chief of Malay, Aklan.
The tourists arrived at Caticlan Airport in Malay on Dec. 5 and were allowed to go to Boracay after submitting negative RT-PCR test results. But based on an informant’s tip and upon verification by the laboratory that released the genuine test result, they were found to have falsified five of the test results.
An RT-PCT test costs at least P3,000 per person.
Ibarreta said Aklan was implementing a policy of strict validation and verification of all RT-PCR tests submitted by tourists with laboratories. INQ