AWAITING TOURISTS Leisure travelers to Boracay Island significantly increased in June, giving residents and business owners hope the island will soon recover from the pandemic-induced economic slump and see more tourists on its still empty beaches, as seen in this photo taken on June 30. PHOTO BY JACK JARILLA
MANILA, Philippines — Fully vaccinated tourists would still need to present negative COVID-19 RT-PCR tests before they could enter Boracay island, the mayor of Malay, Aklan where the island is located said Friday.
This is despite the move of the government to relax rules on the interzonal travel of fully-vaccinated persons, including senior citizens.
Malay mayor Frolibar Bautista said this requirement would remain in effect until a unified vaccination card with security codes would ensure that the document is not falsified or tampered with.
“Kung kaya nila [tourists] i-peke itong RT-PCR test [results] sa pagpasok sa Boracay, how much more itong vaccination card?” he said in a televised public briefing.
(If they can fake the RT-PCR test results, how much more these vaccination cards?)
“Sa ngayon, hangga’t hindi pa natin ma-assure na hindi ma-tamper ‘yang [vaccination] card na ‘yan ay delikado pa rin ngayon na hindi natin i-require ang RT-PCR,” he added.
(For now, while we cannot still assure that these vaccination cards cannot tamper, it is still dangerous to not require the test results before entry.)
A validating system is needed to ensure that vaccination cards presented by tourists will be authentic, he said.
The local government is still continuously apprehending tourists who present fake RT PCR tests, Bautista said. Recently, the Malay government has apprehended 11 tourists for faking their test results.
At present, the Malay town has 53 active cases of COVID-19.