Three Cabinet secretaries are set to visit Bohol on Friday to assess the province’s situation amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Provincial Administrator Kathyrin Pioquinto, Tourism Sec. Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, Environment Sec. Roy Cimatu and Interior Sec. Eduardo Año will meet with Gov. Arthur Yap.

The three national officials will also inspect Bohol’s containerized COVID-19 testing laboratory, the first facility which will be able to conduct a polymerase chain reaction test in the province.

The lab is expected to be operational in the next two weeks.

Puyat’s arrival was also confirmed by DOT-Bohol Satellite Office noting that the national official will assess the province’s tourism industry.

Earlier, Puyat had announced that El Nido, Baguio and Bohol are being eyed for reopening for tourism.

“As you all know, Boracay is zero COVID while Bohol has had two cases of returning residents, otherwise, very, very minimal infection. What is important now is that when a tourist goes to a place, the health protocol is there. It’s safe for the domestic tourists to go to that place, since COVID is not there. And eventually, we can open it to foreign tourists,” Puyat told participants of the Kapihan sa Maynila e-forum earlier this month.

Puyat’s statement however was made prior to the recent surge in community-transmitted COVID-19 cases in Bohol.

Bohol now has over 70 confirmed cases, although most of these are locally stranded individuals who have been quarantined since their arrival in the province. (r)