In Boracay, you can't swim in the beach if you're below 21 or above 60 years old. That's the rule during the COVID-19 quarantine. Recently, locals protested on social media why it doesn't apply to tourists, who can frolick all they want, according to an Inquirer report.
The restrictions remain for Boracay residents, said Acting Malay town Mayor Floribar Bautista. Locals called it discriminatory and unfair. "It's for the residents' safety and protection. If they mingle with the tourists and get infected, it would be my responsibility," Bautista told the Inquirer.
President Rodrigo Duterte, in his State of the Nation Address on Monday urged the public to buy local and patronize local tourism to help the economy recover from the pandemic. Quarantines have been in place since mid-March and businesses have ony begun to recover since lockdowns were eased in June.
Earlier this month, the Inter-Agency task Force reopened Boracay to visitors from Western Visayas, particularly the provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo and Negros Occidental.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said back then, "Boracay is zero (in terms of the) coronavirus disease, in fact, the whole Aklan. They've had positive cases who are returning Filipinos but these cases have been managed already."
