BORACAY ISLAND, Malay Aklan -- An official of the Chinese embassy in Manila sought understanding from Filipinos amid the threat of 2019 novel coronavirus acute respiratory disease (2019-nCoV ARD) in the Philippines.

Peter Tay, Chinese embassy’s liaison officer, said cases of discrimination have been reported on social media.

"We do not want it to happen but what if these things happened to Filipinos and the world will also discriminate the locals. What would you feel? In times like these, I hope we could all be united and vigilant," Tay said.

Tay added that they were surprised on the recent decision of the Municipal Board of Malay to ban all flights from China.

"Already, there were cancellations of room reservations in several hotels in Boracay. These would create economic impact to Boracay as 25 percent of overall tourists’ arrivals in this resort island last year came from mainland China," he said.

To ease the growing discrimination of Filipinos among Chinese, Tay has urged the Chinese embassy to give free face masks to Filipinos.

Leonard Tirol, a Chinese Filipino and an official of the Boracay Foundation Incorporated, said that it is impossible for Boracay to become a “Chinese-free” island.

"Many hotel and restaurant owners here were Chinese and they have friends whom they are inviting along from China to come over and take vacation," he said. (SunStar Philippines)