7 Boracay tourists nabbed for fake COVID-19 test results


BORACAY VISITORS – Two visitors wearing face masks play with a smartphone while walk at the famous white-sand beach of Boracay Island after it reopened to domestic tourists last October. (Tara Yap)
ILOILO CITY – Seven tourists were accosted for using fake COVID-19 test results to enter world-famous Boracay Island.

Four of them were from Cavite and the rest are from Manila, Quezon City, and Bulacan.

The tourists, who are in their 30s and 40s, arrived last June 4. Authorities were able to confirm that the swab test results they presented before heading to the resort island were all fake.

Police Lt. Col. Don de Dios, Malay, Aklan police chief, said the seven tourists were taken by authorities from their hotels and to the isolation facility in Kalibo, the provincial capital of Aklan. They are awaiting test results for their swab tests.

The seven tourists will face charges for falsifying public documents and violating Republic Act (RA) No. 1332 or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act.

De Dios reminded tourists to present genuine COVID-19 test results before entering Boracay.

“We are reminding potential visitors to obtain legitimate COVID-19 test results if they want to visit Boracay Island,” De Dios said. “Otherwise, they will still be caught and they will face criminal charges,” De Dios added.