Philippines to close Boracay
Manila: The Philippines has announced its best-known holidayisland Boracay will be closed to tourists for six months overconcerns that the once idyllic white-sand resort has become a「cesspool」 tainted by dumped sewage.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the shutdown tostart on April 26, his spokesman Harry Roque said late Wednesday onTwitter, without providing further details.
The decision jeopardises the livelihood of thousands employed aspart of a bustling tourist trade on the island that each yearserves some two million guests and pumps roughly US$1bil(RM3.79bil) billion revenue into the Philippine economy.
Experts said the measure also appeared to contradict thegovernment』s own pro-development policy for the island, includingthe recent approval of a planned US$500mil (RM1.89bil) casino andresort on Boracay.
The threat of closure first emerged in February when Duterteblasted the tiny island』s some 500 tourism-related hotels,restaurants and other businesses, accusing them of dumping sewagedirectly into the sea and turning it into a 「cesspool」.
Officials have warned the island』s drainage system is being usedto send the untreated sewage into its surrounding turquoisewaters.
The environment ministry says 195 businesses, along with morethan 4,000 residential customers, are not connected to sewerlines.
But within weeks of Duterte lashing out at the local businesses,the Philippines gave the green light for Macau casino giant GalaxyEntertainment to begin construction next year of the casino andresort complex.
「The casino contradicts all the efforts now of cleaning up andmaking sure Boracay goes back to the state where it doesn』t violateits carrying capacity,」 former Philippine environmentundersecretary Antonio La Vina said.
He added that the area has seen 「unlimited」 development because「local government units and the national government agencies didnot do their job of enforcing rules on land use, environmentalimpact assessment」.
The impact of Wednesday』s decision was already being felt, withdomestic airlines announcing they would scale back the number offlights to the 1,000ha island.
「I am really in a quandary on how to handle six months (ofclosure),」 budget hostel manager Manuel Raagas said.
「There will be no income and we have bills to pay so I don』tknow how I will survive.」
Officials have said they are willing to take a hard lineenforcing the closure.
Environment Undersecretary Jonas Leones said last month shuttingdown the tourist trade could involve having ferries suspend theirBoracay services and making the beaches off-limits, and stationingpolice there 「if necessary」.
「An iron fist is needed to bring it back to its previouscondition. It will be a temporary thing,」 Leones said. — AFP
