Boracay, Aklan – The Department of Tourism (DOT) partners with Tulong Kapatid to improve Boracay Island’s health and communications portfolio.
Tulong Kapatid is the social responsibility consortium of the MVP Group of Companies.
“The DOT acknowledges the initiatives of the private sector in improving the living conditions on the island,” Tourism chief Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said.
“What we have really laid out is to address major issues that we’ve been grappling for a while specially in destinations like Boracay. This (partnership) came out on an instant type of request and recognition of issues and then the private sector comes in to help out the national government. Exactly that bayanihan spirit that we’ve been espousing,” DOT Undersecretary Arturo Boncato Jr. added during the turn over ceremony held at a private resort in Boracay Island.
In support of the Department of Health’s (DOH) call for personal hygiene, Makati Medical Foundation, along with SMART, the PLDT-Smart Foundation, and the Metro Pacific Foundation under Tulong Kapatid, are donating a total of 60 automated sensor hand sanitizers to the hospital, airport, seaport terminals, and other public places in the island.
The Tulong Kapatid HEART (Health and Emergency Response Team) Stations will also be placed throughout Boracay.
Makati Medical Foundation and its private sector partners donated medical equipment that will level up the Ciriaco S. Tirol Hospital from an infirmary to a level 1 trauma hospital. Long-term trainings and technology transfer will also be conducted, including the implementation of a Pandemic Preparedness Program to help bring back tourism confidence here in Boracay from a health security perspective.
Smart Communications earlier provided Boracay and other DOT Regional Offices with mobile SAT phones, which aids communication during calamities or other emergencies when the normal 2G signal and internet network are down.
“The threat that COVID-19 poses is serious and we are not taking it lightly; however, we must stress that travel around the Philippines is still possible and reasonably safe when all recommended health protocols and precautionary measures are strictly observed,” Sec. Puyat said.
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