By Romar Miranda

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY―Hailed as the 2020’s “best island in the world”, the El Nido town is eyening
tourism reopening for the rest of the domestic travelers by November.

Mayor Edna Gacot-Lim on Friday’s meeting with tourism secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said that
travelers would be allowed in El Nido subject to strict guidelines from the inter-agency task force, which
may include RT-PCR test prior to airline departure from point of origin.

“We will provide policy para sa manggagaling sa Palawan at ‘yong dito nagme-meeting ang IATF para
titingnan kung sigurado na before undas. Kung matatakot tayo, walang mangyayari sa atin,” Lim said.

Puyat lauded the El Nido Resorts’ “travel bubble” dry-run that started in July anchored on “test before
travel” set-up.

“Napaka-important ‘yonh ginawa natin noong July kasi three months na El Nido [Resorts] ongoing. Test,
RT-PCR test, and proud to say naging successful naman all eight flights. No outbreak, negative lahat,”
Puyat said.

Puyat also stressed on the importance of the contact tracing team to ensure that in case of breach of
protocols, immediate identification and isolation of possible COVID-19 cases would be mitigated.

“Test before travel protocol. Contact tracing is napaka-importante so alam mo nasaan ‘yong tao at what
particular time,” Puyat added.

The municipality of El Nido closed its doors to the public in March upon the pandemic crisis.

Since the onset of the highly infectious disease outbreak in the country, El Nido town has only recorded
two COVID-19 cases, both asymptomatic patients with travel history in Luzon but were recovered days
after their isolation. The provincial health office also said that there is no local transmission of the highly
infectious virus in the municipality, making the popular tourism destination safe for travel.

Tourists would be required to undergo the usual mandatory health checks and were asked to comply
with the government’s minimum public health and safety standards.