IT’S final.
The “best island in the world” is going to be closed for six months starting April 26, 2018. In a tweet by Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, after the Cabinet meeting in Malacañang, he said: “Bora closed for 6 mos effective 26 April.”
Several government sources intimated that three Cabinet members objected to the total closure of the island: Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez, and Spokesman Roque.
A government source said, “What should have been a 10-minute discussion on the issue, stretched to a three-hour debate,” as several Cabinet secretaries issued their thoughts on the matter.
In a separate text message to the BusinessMirror, Lopez said: “We all presented our differing views and the President has the final decision.” He also confirmed that he voiced his opposition to the total closure of Boracay Island. This paper earlier reported that Lopez had sent a memo to Duterte pushing for a phased closure if need be, so as not to affect the workers’ livelihoods. (See “DTI comes to Boracay resorts, workers’ rescue,” in the BusinessMirror, April 2, 2018.)
Separate sources said Dominguez expressed concern about the plight of the hotels and resorts if the island would be closed. “But towards the end [of the discussion], he also swung and supported a total closure. As long as the DOT (Department of Tourism) has a recovery plan, he said,” the sources narrated.
Another source said President Duterte expects the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to immediately put Boracay under a state of calamity. “PRRD wants it tomorrow (Thursday),” the same source said. DILG, DOT and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources are members of the inter-agency Task Force Boracay.
Jose Clemente III, president of the Tourism Congress of the Philippines (TCP), expressed dismay over Duterte’s decision, but at the same time, relief that the festering issue has finally been addressed. “The TCP is obviously disappointed in the decision to close down Boracay for the next six months starting April 26. We had high hopes that our requests for a phased rehabilitation would be granted in order to mitigate the potential damage to the people of Boracay and to the tourism industry. We now look to assisting the government in fast-tracking the rehabilitation so that we may be able to perhaps hasten the reopening of Boracay.”
Meanwhile, a government source said the inter-agency Task Force Boracay will conduct a workshop on the island on Tuesday, April 10, “to present to stakeholders the whole plan starting with the work on April 26.”
He added: “We need everyone’s support. The closure isn’t being done on a whim. It’s just the right thing to do,” the same source said, adding “it will be a temporary shutdown to all tourist activity.”