By TARAYAP
ILOILO CITY – Only 1,000 people per day will be allowed to enter Boracay Island from Oct. 15-25, the government’s schedule for the dry run that precedes the tourism reopening.
Atty. Helen Catalbas, Western Visayas regional director of Department of Tourism (DoT) said the number came up as part of the dry run leading up to the opening of the world-renowned island.
“That is the number of people agreed upon by the inter-agency task force,” disclosed Catalbas.
Last month, Secretary Roy Cimatu of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) announced there will be a dry run to assess what needs to be worked on once the resort island formally reopens to tourists by Oct. 26.
Catalbas said these 1,000 people would mostly be from Aklan province. She noted that the provincial government of Aklan, led by Governor Florencio Miraflores, will be responsible for identifying the Aklanons who can enter the resort island in Malay town.
“Other Filipinos will also be allowed,” added Catalbas.
Echoing the previous announcement of DoT Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, Catalbas said that only 1,000 rooms will be made available for Boracay’s dry run.
The dry-run is also at first come, first serve basis. Catalbas said that there must be a prior room reservation before going to Boracay Island.
DoT-6 also cautioned not to expect that everything is already fixed by next month including Boracay’s road network.
“Boracay’s rehabilitation is a continuing process,” added Catalbas.