Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, along with her co-chairs in the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force (BIATF), graced the cover of a local bilingual business and lifestyle publication in its 74th issue.
In an Instagram post, Puyat expressed her admiration to Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano and Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu for leading the rehabilitation efforts at the famed Boracay Island in 2018.
“I couldn’t have asked for better partners in government in rehabilitation work needed in our destinations,” she said. “We still, more or less, have the same roles in dealing with this pandemic, enforcing environmental protection, local government unit coordination and engagement, and safely and slowly restarting tourism but on a national scale."
In 2018, President Duterte ordered the six-month closure of the world-famous Boracay Island from April to September to pave the way for a massive rehabilitation of the island, which has long been plagued with environmental problems.
The President extended the term of the BIATF until May 8, 2021 by the virtue of an Executive Order he signed last May 11, 2020, citing the need to complete the critical projects in the island.
Duterte was supposed to visit the island for the first time last March 12, right before the pandemic erupted, to promote domestic tourism since its reopening.
But with the ongoing global health crisis, leisure travelers are still prohibited from entering the island even with its partial reopening for Western Visayas residents last June 16.