THE Philippines is still a relatively safe destination for travel, as government agencies have partnered to further beef up security for tourists.
Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat told the BusinessMirror, “We’ve relied on local governments and tied up with the PNP (Philippine National Police) to keep our tourists safe.”
She noted that the two recent deaths in a hotel on Boracay Island involving two tourists—an Australian national and her Filipino boyfriend—were an “isolated case.” After a forensic investigation, the Malay Police Station concluded that it was a “homicide and suicide.”
The Department of Tourism (DOT) has a current partnership with the PNP for the training of police personnel specifically in the assistance of tourists under the Tourism-Oriented Police for the Community Order and Protection (TopCop) program. TopCop was established in 2011 and has trained 5,457 tourist police and put up 365 Tourist Police Assistance Centers (TPAC) in strategic locations across the country.
On March 14, the DOT also forged an agreement with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the PNP to beef up security in tourists destinations nationwide under the program, Tourism Operation Protection Against Illegal Drugs (TOP-AID).
Deterring drug trafficking
“We welcome this latest collaboration with our country’s police force and drug enforcement agency with the aim of deterring the trafficking of dangerous drugs in tourist destinations, and the protection of our tourists,” said Romulo Puyat in a news statement.
Under the new partnership, the DOT will identify key destinations where the PDEA’s assistance is most needed. PDEA has agreed to assign personnel to the TOP-AID centers in these tourist destinations. These centers will also lead an information drive on creating a “Drug Free Workplace,” while assisting in drug-clearing operations, including arresting persons engaged in illegal drug activities in coordination with the PNP and concerned local government units.
On March 28, the US State Department downgraded its travel advisory to the Philippines to a Level 3, advising its citizens not to travel to the Sulu archipego “due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, and kidnapping;” to Marawi City “due to terrorism and civil unrest;” and to reconsider travel to other areas in Mindanao due to “crime, terrorism, civil unrest, and kidnapping.” The agency added that the Philippines has a “moderate level of Covid-19.”
Probe of Boracay tourists’ deaths
Meanwhile, the Malay Municipal Police station reported on March 28, 2022 that one Maria Cecilia Jollicoe y Salvatierra, a tourist from Australia, died after being strangled. She also suffered a “traumatic head injury” after hitting the floor “with enough force to be fatal or initially render the victim unconscious and immobile, hence no signs of struggle from the victim…”
The other fatality, one Dennis Yu y Villaluz, died from “hypovolemic shock secondary to multiple incise wounds to the lower extremities…. Clearly wound placement and characteristics show that the wounds were deliberate and precise.” The slashes, caused by cutter blades, “severed major arteries and the Achilles heel tendons…” causing him to lose a vast amount of blood.
As there were no witnesses to the crime, the investigator posited that the two had probably fought on March 19, 2022, and that Yu could have knocked her to the floor, then strangled her. Realizing what he had done, Yu “felt guilty and remorseful” and unable to face the expected legal consequences of his action, decided to take his own life, explained the investigator.
The two bodies were found past 1 pm on March 21, or two days after the violent incident was supposed to have occurred. Initial investigation by the police showed the two tourists arrived on Boracay on March 13, and were supposed to check out on March 21. Hotel staff found the bodies after they looked in on the couple to remind them of their checkout.