The Department of Tourism will investigate the alleged gender discrimination against transgender guests of a beach resort on Samal Island.
Isla Reta Beach Resort came under fire online on Wednesday, May 12 over its ban on transgender individuals, citing no facilities to accommodate their demands.
“The Department of Tourism (DOT) will be conducting an investigation on an alleged incident involving sexual harassment and gender discrimination by the employees and management of a resort in Samal Island,” the tourism department said in a May 13 statement.
“The DOT is an advocate of gender equality and mainstreaming, and does not tolerate any form of gender-based harassment nor discrimination in its systems, structures, policies, programs, and processes. We enjoin the entire tourism industry to abide by our national laws on Gender and Development,” it added.
Local LGBT community, including Miss Trans Global 2020 Mela Franco Habijan, had slammed the island resort management for the policy it posted on Facebook, which states:
“We inform to the public (sic) we cannot accommodate transgender because we have no facility for them to avoid issues of discrimination.”
