BORACAY – Restrictions on the media’s coverage of this island resort’s rehabilitation have been lifted.
Journalists are free go to anywhere in Boracay to gather information, according to Tourism undersecretary Frederick Alegre.
Journalists intending to cover Boracay were previously told to seek accreditation first with the Department of Tourism (DOT).
Alegre said accreditation remains a requirement but the accredited journalists would no longer be escorted when roaming around the island.
The previously announced 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. stay of journalists in the island was also scrapped.
Alegre announced the relaxing of the rules on media coverage during a press conference on Wednesday night. But he reminded the press to always bring with them their identification cards.
Alegre also stressed that journalists are prohibited from swimming in Boracay’s waters.
The inter-agency task force on the island’s rehabilitation previously announced that only natives of the island would be allowed to swim and only at Station 1.
“We trust that media people will conduct themselves professionally,” said Alegre.
Transparency, not media restrictions, is crucial in the rehabilitation of Boracay, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), a lateral guild committed to protect the interests of Filipino working journalists. It recently blasted the restrictions as not only unconstitutional but also illogical.
“One would think the government would want full media coverage of its efforts to rehabilitate what President (Rodrigo) Duterte says is the ‘cesspool’ the once-proud tourist destination has become. Unless, of course, there are things it does not want the public, through the media, to know,” NUJP stressed in a statement.
NUJP pointed to Article 3, Section 4 of the Philippine Constitution’s Bill of Rights: “No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.”
It urged media organizations to insist on the right to carry out their task of covering an event that people have the right to be informed about./PN
