President Duterte is expected to push through with his visit to Boracay this Thursday for events related to tourism and agrarian reform, Malacañang announced Tuesday.
Based on a tentative schedule, the President is expected to conduct an inspection of Boracay, which underwent a six-month closure for rehabilitation in 2018.
Duterte will also lead the distribution of certificate of land ownership awards to farmer beneficiaries during his visit to Malay, Aklan.
“There is a scheduled event of distribution of land certifications on Thursday afternoon,” Panelo said during a Palace briefing Tuesday when asked about the President’s visit to Boracay.
“I don’t think he will go around. After the event, there’s another event in the evening, at one of the hotels I think to meet with some tourists, guests of Secretary Berna (Romulo Puyat),” he added.
Puyat earlier invited the President to visit Boracay as part of government’s efforts to promote domestic tourism despite the coronavirus threat. The government has encouraged Filipinos to visit various travel destinations in the country instead of abroad amid the coronavirus spread.
Panelo noted that the President is expected to continue with his public engagements despite the Presidential Security Group (PSG) plans to limit his movement.
“Even if you limit him, he does not want to be limited,” he said.
The President earlier said he would not decline invitations to events and will continue to “shake hands with everybody.” He found the PSG’s “no touch” policy on him as “kalokohan.” (Genalyn Kabiling)