City government of the Island Garden City of Samal (IGACOS) (Facebook / MANILA BULLETIN)
IGACOS is part of Davao del Norte province which is currently under General Community Quarantine until February 28. Under the IATF’s Omnibus Guidelines on the Implementation of Community Quarantine in the Philippines, establishments in tourism industries are not allowed to operate.
However, in a phone interview, Information Officer Michael Anthony Homez said the local government received the reply of the IATF on February 19 allowing resorts to operate for tourism.
“We wrote the IATF in the second week of January to allow tourism to operate but it was denied. We wrote to them again and fortunately last week they replied,” he said.