A total of 355,797 tourism workers across the country have been granted "ayuda" or cash aid under the financial assistance program of the Department of Tourism (DOT) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
(Pia Miraflores via Tara Yap / MANILA BULLETIN)
Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said on Monday, Feb. 15, that the DOT Region VI- Boracay Field and Compliance Monitoring Office (BFCMO) filed cases of falsification of public documents against the six Manila-based tourists.
“This is how serious the DOT is in the enforcement of existing health and safety rules,” Puyat said.
The DOT confirmed last January that three out of the six tourists who falsified their reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests actually tested positive for COVID-19.
The infected tourists have been brought to the Aklan Training Center (ATC) in Kalibo town for quarantine along with their companions who also forged their RT-PCR tests but tested negative upon confirmation.