The Department of Tourism (DOT) has proposed the establishment of a special court to aid in the swift resolution of cases where tourists are involved.
Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco first proposed the “24/7 tourist courts” during a recent sectoral meeting with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in Malacañang.
“We are now working with the DOJ [Department of Justice] and we will be collaborating with the judiciary department for the establishment of a 24-hour tourist court for the resolution of crimes related to our tourists,” Frasco said during a briefing for the proposed budget of the DOT for the 2025 fiscal year at the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
The DOT is also beefing up police forces across strategic locations, primarily in areas with a high concentration of tourists.
Over 8,000 police personnel under the department’s Tourist Oriented Police for Community Order and Protection program have been trained.
The agency has also trained 270 barangay tanod and barangay intelligence network as police multipliers.
“Being a [former] mayor nga po, alam natin na hindi naman enough ‘yung number of police to the actual population, kaya naman po in-expand natin ‘yung program na ito na isasali na natin sa training ‘yung barangay tanod and barangay intelligence network multipliers (we know that the number of police to the actual population is not enough that is why we are expanding this program that we will include the barangay tanod and barangay intelligence network multipliers in the training),” she added.
The Philippines has registered a total of 3,860,730 international visitors, of which 92.05 percent or 3,553,720 are foreigners, while the remaining 7.95 percent or 307,010 are overseas Filipinos, as of Aug. 19.
The top 10 source markets are South Korea, the United States of America, Japan, China, Australia, Taiwan, Canada, the United Kingdom, Singapore, and Malaysia. (PNA)
