ILOILO CITY, Iloilo, Philippines — For the past 22 years, Mahid Bani has been selling pearl jewelry to tourists and balikbayans (returning Filipino expatriates) on Boracay. But since February, when the COVID-19 pandemic started, tourists have stopped coming to the resort island due to travel restrictions and community quarantine measures. The pandemic has hit hard Boracay’s Muslim community, forcing more than 80 percent of its members to leave and return to their home provinces in Mindanao due to lack of livelihood. From around 3,000 members before the pandemic, the Muslim community at Sitio Ambulong in Barangay Manoc-Manoc now has about 500, of whom 10 percent are school-age children. Not giving up“Some will come back if the situation improves … but many said they will not return,” Arumpac said.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer October 25, 2020 20:15 UTC