Senate probe sought on Boracay closure

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV is seeking an investigation into President Duterte’s order to close Boracay Island for six months.

Trillanes, a vocal critic of Duterte, earlier expressed suspicion that the order was just to facilitate the entry of Chinese investors of a casino complex in Boracay.

“I maintain my position that the reason why Boracay was ordered closed is for the planned construction where they need the ports to bring in construction materials and heavy equipment,” Trillanes said in a press conference yesterday.

“They can’t do this with tourists around, so for me, to shed light on this issue, I’ll be filing a resolution calling for a Senate investigation,” he added.

Trillanes said he wants his resolution referred to the committee on tourism chaired by Sen. Nancy Binay.

As this developed, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto yesterday said that land reform or farming may not be suitable for Boracay, which reportedly brings in some P56 billion in revenues annually from tourism.

The government, according to Recto, must instead consider “optimal utilization” in land use – whether it is urban or rural, upland or coastal – to “yield the most income, the most jobs, the greatest economic value per square meter with the least social and environmental cost.”

“There are lands best for farming, for housing, for tourism, for industry, for protection as national parks. That is why one doesn’t grow pechay that sells for P100 a kilo on a P200,000-per-square-meter block of land in Makati,” Recto said.

“This appropriateness rule should also apply in Boracay. One can either gather tuba or nuts for copra in one hectare of beachfront coconut land and earn P100,000 a year – which would hardly allow a family to scrape by – or build on that land an environmentally compliant resort that can employ hundreds and raise millions in taxes for the government’s social programs,” he added.

Recto said there are 9.7 million hectares of agricultural land in the country where food could be grown. Boracay is only 1,078 hectares small, he said, and “in the nation’s economic division of labor, let this be our income-earning rest-and-recreation area that is open to the world.”

As to land reform, the Department of Agrarian Reform’s outstanding land acquisition and development (LAD) balance was about 602,000 hectares a year ago, according to the senator.

The government should concentrate on the LAD program, especially on covered lands already in the advanced stage of review and processing, Recto said.

No casino

Amid the fuss created by Duterte’s statements over Boracay’s six-month closure, Malacañang reiterated yesterday that the latest order to ban casinos so far remains.

“Boracay closed to tourists and no casinos in Boracay. Period,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said.

Roque also shrugged off requests for him to comment on Trillanes’ call to conduct a Senate inquiry into the closure order.

Roque, who is part of Duterte’s official delegation to China, was mum on insinuations that the President may have given a blessing for Galaxy Corp. to proceed with a plan to put up a casino complex in the island resort.

Reconsideration

With billions of pesos in investment at stake, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) chair Andrea Domingo hopes Duterte will reconsider his decision not to allow the construction of casinos in Boracay.

Domingo believes Macau casino giant Galaxy Entertainment will not destroy the environment, but she said the agency will follow the President’s orders.

“I’m just an employee, an appointee of the President, but the President has the final say on this,” Domingo said in an interview with radio dzMM.

“But the thing is, the President is a very intelligent and discerning person,” she added.

Last month, Pagcor granted a provisional license to Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. for its integrated casino-project in Barangay Manoc-Manoc in Boracay. It is expected to bring in at least $100 million in annual revenues.

Permanent displacement of workers

The closure of  Boracay may be only temporary, but the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) yesterday admitted there are workers in the island who may permanently lose their jobs.

Labor Undersecretary Dominador Say said there are establishments in Boracay that will definitely fold up due to violations and the closures can lead to permanent displacement of workers.

“There are certain establishments with violations that carry an order of closure, workers from these companies will lose their jobs,” Say said, citing news reports that a number of establishments were demolished due to easement violations.

But he stressed only a few establishments will close down permanently, thus permanent displacement of workers will be also be minimal.

Say said employees who will be terminated because of company closure must be provided with separation pay.

He added that workers who may be terminated because of temporary closure can file illegal dismissal charges and the DOLE is ready to assist them.

Miss Universe in Boracay?

Meanwhile, the Department of Tourism (DOT) is eyeing to hold the Miss Universe pageant in Boracay after its six-month closure, in a bid to promote the rehabilitated island.

In a government podcast, Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo said Duterte talked about the possibility of holding the Miss Universe pageant in Boracay during the last Cabinet meeting.

Teo said this was prompted by a question from Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, who said the DOT might find it difficult to promote Boracay again after the closure.

She said Duterte suggested that the country bring the prestigious pageant to the island once it is reopened.

“I’ll be very proud and happy if we will be able to hold the Miss Universe in Boracay,” Teo said.

Setting a good image

A social development organization in the Philippines expressed optimism that the country’s tourism industry will surely benefit from the six-month closure of Boracay. 

Bayan Academy chairman and president Eduardo Morato Jr. said Boracay’s closure will set a good image before the foreign market, contrary to what some tourism stakeholders are claiming. 

“The problem is, in the past, the image of the Philippines in the tourism industry is not good, but if (foreign travelers) think that we are serious about providing tourism in the best quality service, it will have a good effect,” Morato said.  

“After all the hullabaloo, after all the crisis, after all the weeping, tourists will come,” he added. ?Morato said that the positive effect on the tourism industry as far as the closure of Boracay is concerned will be felt after the six-month rehabilitation of the world-renowned island, especially next summer when thousands are expected to visit the island. 

He, however, said that the DOT and other government organizations involved in the Boracay repair should send a positive image to both foreign and domestic travelers that the island will be renewed. 

“You can turn something bad into something very good,” he said.  

Morato told tourism stakeholders in Boracay to just give the government time to do its task and “ride along” with the situation as any loss will be temporary. 

He said that affected tourism groups will surely get a bigger return after Boracay’s rehabilitation. 

Tourism Congress of the Philippines president Jose Clemente III said tourism stakeholders are not against the closure of the tourist destination, but are only after specific guidelines for affected workers and a “real timeline” for the island’s rehabilitation. – Christina Mendez, Helen Flores, Mayen Jaymalin, Catherine Talavera, Robertzon Ramirez

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