MANILA, Philippines — It seems like the deferred casino plans on the world-famous island Boracay will push through after all.

Citing lack of funds, President Rodrigo Duterte recently took back his words against casino plans and said he is now in favor of those.

(Now, you’ll say, ‘This Duterte, you said you don’t want gambling, and now you encourage the opening of a gambling house in Boracay for tourists?’)

(Please forgive me for the contradiction. Now we don’t have money. Wherever we may get money, I’ll take it. If that’s from gambling, so be it. If I was wrong there, yes, I am wrong. If I didn’t stand by my word, yes that’s right, but I need money to run the government because I have a lot to finance.)

In April 2018, Duterte said he would prohibit casinos on Boracay island, which was closed to tourists for six months for rehabilitation.

"There are no plans for a casino. That’s enough, because it's too much. There's a casino here, casino there," Duterte said then.

Opposition vs revived Boracay casino plans

The president's recent pronouncement earned the ire of Boracaynons.

Business community leader or business owner Nenette Aguirre-Graf opposed the project, saying they have worked their way to promote Boracay as a family destination.

“It’s been like that for years. And here comes a new pronouncement by the president. We all know what goes with a casino island. It goes with drugs, prostitution, criminality, money laundering and many other things that are negative,” she told ANC.

Full: https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2021 ... le2XFHnXyY

Not unlike another place I can think of, they fcuked up Boracay with overdevelopment such that it
had to be closed to tourists for several months in order to 'rehabilitate' the island:

In a business forum held on February 9, 2018, President Rodrigo Duterte called the island of Boracay a "cesspool" and announced plans to close the island to tourists and conduct a rehabilitation on the island in June 2018 to resolve the worsening sewage conditions there.

Here's the new rules from back then:

Entry limitations:

Only 19,000 tourists are welcome to stay on the island at any given time
Only 6,405 tourists per day are allowed to enter the island
Availability of hotel rooms will be reduced from 12,000 to 6,000-9,000
Tourists may be required to present hotel reservations before entering the island
You can only book from Department of Tourism-accredited hotels.

Beach activities:

No smoking and alcoholic beverages along White Beach (main beach area of Boracay)
Dining on the beach is prohibited
Beachfront parties are now banned
Sand castles (a big attraction in Boracay) will be regulated
Shops and hawkers/peddlers are banned from peddling their goods on the beach
Fire dancing with kerosene lamps are prohibited
Casinos are banned on the island

Oh dear, scrub the last rule

SternAAlbifrons wrote: ↑Sun Sep 05, 2021 9:20 pm Spew

Was it ever nice? How long ago?

Algal bloom in Boracay on April 25, 2018, a day prior to the resort island's closure.

I heard it was the place to go back in the 70-80s..not that I got to see it then.

Anyway, the casinos should fix the place..