MANILA – Due to the increasing numbers of the confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the country, President Rodrigo Duterte decided to move his March 12 visit to the world-famous Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan to a later date.
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo did not specify when the visit will push through but said that the President will surely be in Boracay Island to promote it to tourists.
“The visit of the President to the said island is moved to a later date,” Panelo said.
Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat, meanwhile, earlier said that the purpose of the Chief Executive’ visit to Boracay Island was to lift the public’s mood to travel around the country. Duterte will also inspect what has been done on the island since it was rehabilitated two years ago.
Apart from his island visit, the President was also invited to the distribution of registered Emancipation Patents (EPs) and Certificate of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAs) facilitated by the Department of Agrarian Reform.
Duterte was to distribute 2, 795.8351 hectares of new lands around this region to some 3,273 beneficiaries, most of whom are farmers.
In November 2018, he led the initial distribution of six Certificates of Land Ownership Awards to 44 members of Aklan’s indigenous people (IP). The new IP landowners received a total of 3.2064 hectares of agricultural land./PN
