Residents of Puerto Galera town in Oriental Mindoro are still struggling to recover after the COVID-19 pandemic affected tourism, their main livelihood.
According to Mayor Rocky Ilagan, they want to vaccinate especially their tourism workers, to revive the town’s economy.
“Talaga pong medyo kulang. Dito sa amin turista ang ikinabubuhay. Habang wala pong na vaccine talaga hindi kami makapag open sa turismo at katunayan po ang dumarating sa aming turista sa araw araw ngayon mahigit lang po sa 50 tuista,” said Ilagan.
So far, only more than 1,000 have been vaccinated with the first dose, and about 600 have completed the second dose.
“Turista ang hanap-buhay namin. For almost 15 months na po talagang wala po kaming turista. Ang mga kababayan namin nahihirapan,” he said.
The mayor said in an interview that of the 350 establishments in the town, only 104 are open.
“[Nasa] 138 yung talagang may permit but 104 lang po yung nag-ooperate. Problema po wala pong tao kaya talagang ang mga kababayan namin nahihirapan at umaasa kami na mapabilis po yung vaccine para naman po kami ay makabalik sa hanap-buhay,” he said.
He said there is no problem with residents refusing to be vaccinated, and the vaccine itself is really lacking.
Puerto Galera mayor asks for more vaccines to reopen tourism
Some whose livelihoods were affected returned to fishing. Others are planting or under construction to meet their needs.
“Baka po hindi COVID mamamatay ang aming mga kababayan, baka po sa gutom, wala pang hanap-buhay,” he said.
Ilagan requested that their supply of vaccines be increased, and that is why they said they would vaccinate 400 to 500 people per day.
So far, there are only eight active COVID-19 cases in the municipality.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) announced that they would be implementing an order from Malacanang extending the arrival ban on 7 countries until June 30.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente announced that pursuant to an order from the Palace, the ban on arriving passengers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, United Arab Emirates, and Oman shall remain until the month’s end.
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