Senator Nancy Binay on Sunday expressed dismay at Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat for committing serious health violations when she went on tour together with a six-year-old child.
Binay said the DOT chief’s latest stories in Instagram show a series of health violations. The senator said netizens brought to her attention Puyat’s IG story posted on June 12, Independence day, showing her together with Scarlet Snow Belo touring Bohol.
The deleted IG post showed Puyat together with Scarlet Snow deplaning and visiting several tour sites apparently as part of a subtle tourism promotional campaign to encourage domestic leisure travel. Netizens were also surprised to see Berna and Scarlet Snow touring without their facemasks and face shields on.
Scarlet Snow is the daughter of celebrity dermatologist Vicki Belo and her partner, controversial Dr. Hayden Kho Jr.
"I understand fully the concern of Sec. Berna in helping the industry. Talagang dapang-dapa na ang ating industriya ng turismo (Our tourism industry is in shambles) but what everyone saw in her IG post is a disturbing lapse of judgment that showcased a series of public health and IATF violations," Binay explained.
Binay said the government should be consistent in its messaging to the public, specially with children as part of the message.
She stressed special emphasis must be placed on strictly following the minimum health and safety protocols even as certain restrictions are eased or lifted.
“Her intentions may be good but as a Cabinet member, the more she should know the government regulations that are in place. As someone in government, we should be conscious if our decisions or actions would be for the good or bad,” she said.
“Because you may be sending wrong signals to the public in showing that minors are already allowed to go visit tourist destinations,” Binay added.
The senator said this situation highlights conflicting positions of government authorities whenever the DOT invokes IATF Resolution 118-A, which allows travelers ages below 18 and above 65 years old to travel for leisure provided that they undergo RT-PCR before travel.
Yet the IATF clarified that only "point-to-point" travel from National Capital Region (NCR) Plus to areas under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) shall be allowed without age restrictions subject to an RT-PCR test-before-travel requirement for those below 18 years old and above 65 years old, and other protocols and restrictions as may be imposed by the DOT and the local government unit (LGU) of destination.
Based on Puyat's IG post, Binay said the government official broke the “point-to-point” policy, totally downplaying the fact that COVID-19 is still very real and fatal.
“As a government executive, there’s a higher expectation she should be practicing extreme caution. If this is always how they do it, we are destroying the very message that we need to be vigilant especially amid the presence of more fatal COVID variants in the Philippines,” she said.
“It also highlights the unfair application of IATF rules—we are lax when it comes to the rich, but we drag to jail the poor and the powerless,” she lamented.
“The position of health experts is that children are still not allowed to leave their homes. Sec Berna's post practically showed that it’s safe for children to travel,"
“Being one of the most-followed social media influencers, Snow gives a perception that ‘everything is OK’—which, in fact, allowing kids to roam in public places is not-OK,” Binay stressed.