By Jennifer P. Rendon
The faking continues.
Seven tourists from Luzon who went to the world-famous Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan allegedly presented fake reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results.
Lieutenant Colonel Don de Dios, Boracay police chief, said they got a confirmation that the seven tourists – four from Cavite and one each from Quezon City, Bulacan, and Manila – used fake RT-PCR results to enter the island.
The seven, whose ages ranged between 30 and 40 years old, were part of the group of tourists who arrived in the island on June 4, 2021 and stayed at a hotel in Boracay’s Station 2 in Barangay Balabag.
“They were extracted from the hotel on the same day and brought to the province’s quarantine facility in Kalibo town,” de Dios said.
The seven are still at the quarantine facility waiting for the result of their swab test.
De Dios said he is not aware if their companions decided to go home or continued with their vacation.
Two months ago, the Department of Justice (DOJ) authorized the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to investigate the proliferation of fake RT-PCR test results presented by tourists entering Boracay Island.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevara issued Department Order No. 88 authorizing the NBI “to conduct investigation and case build-up on the alleged proliferation of falsified RT-PCR results used in entering Boracay Island.”
“Sana huwag na silang mameke because we will eventually know,” he said.
Tourists who wish to stay in Boracay are required to present a negative RT-PCR result released within 72 hours of travel as part of moves to stop the spread of COVID-19.
After presenting the result, they are given a provisional quick reaction (QR) codes while their test results are being validated.
De Dios said the seven tourists would be charged for violation of Republic Act 11332 (Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act).
After the filing of the case, they could be declared as persona non grata or unwelcome in the island.
Last month, the Malay local government revealed it has declared 122 tourists as “persona non grata” for using fake RT-PCR test results to enter the island.
These individuals were caught with RT-PCR test results since October 2020, the time that Boracay reopened to tourists from other parts of the country, until February 2021.
Approved on March 11, the persona non grata declaration was based on a Sangguniang Bayan (SB) resolution stating that tourists will be “unwelcome for the duration of the Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic or the public health emergency”.
