Boracay tourists charged for fake Covid test results
Six tourists have been charged for coming to the holiday island of Boracay with fake Covid swab test results.
Three of the six tourists, who hail from Metro Manila, turned out to be positive for the virus after they were arrested in late January at a Borocay hotel.
They are charged with falsification of public documents, according to the local prosecutor’s office in Kalibo.
Charges were filed by the Philippines’ Department of Tourism.
"This is how serious the DOT is in the enforcement of existing health and safety rules," Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said.
Five other tourists were charged in December and authorities say about 100 bogus test results have been found in the past few months.
Travellers heading to Boracay must present a negative RT-PCR test result taken within 72 hours of travel.
Boracay began welcoming domestic tourists from other regions in October.
It received about 12,000 tourist visits in January 2021 which is well down on the 60,000 who came in January 2020 before the pandemic took hold.
Written by Ray Montgomery, Asia Editor
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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