Hundreds join job fair in Aklan ahead of Boracay reopening

Hundreds of individuals joined a recent job fair in Aklan, as they seek to score employment opportunities weeks before the reopening of Boracay Island later this month.

According to a report on GMA News TV's News to Go on Monday, hundreds of youth joined a job fair organized by the local Sangguniang Kabataan in Aklan, even amid the rains in the area.

The report said job applicants included individuals who lost their jobs due to the six-month rehabilitation of Boracay.

The government is set to conduct a dry run of Boracay's reopening on October 15, to find out if there are any adjustments needed before the full reopening on October 26.

The closure was ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte starting April 26, 2018, on recommendation of the BIATF, after the President called the area a cesspool.

Duterte in May said businesses will be allowed back into the island once the rehabilitation is done, provided that locals of the area will be given full priority in terms of land reform.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia in August blamed the closure for the slowdown in the country's economic growth which was recorded at 6.0 percent in the second quarter, below market expectations. — Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/RSJ, GMA News