MANILA — A Philippine island that became famous for the white
sand beaches and coral reefs that made it a haven for travelers,
and then for the rapid development and pollution that threatened
its idyllic shores, has been ordered closed to tourists for six
months.
President Rodrigo Duterte - who has said that inadequate sewage
treatment on the island, Boracay, has turned its beaches into a
“cesspool” - directed that it be closed to tourism starting April
26, his spokesman, Harry Roque, said Wednesday (April 4).
That decision threatens the livelihoods of thousands of people
on Boracay, a speck of an island in the central Philippines that
has become a travel destination to rival Phuket, in Thailand, and
Bali, in Indonesia.
Mr Duterte has said Boracay must be cleaned up, but officials
have given no indication there is a plan to do so. Yet last month,
the government signed an agreement with Galaxy Entertainment, a
Macau-based casino operator, and a Philippine partner to begin
construction next year on a US$500 million beachfront casino that
would add to the burdens on the island’s infrastructure.
“Maybe the timing was just coincidence, but I can say that it is
very odd,” said Ms Nenette Graf, president of an alliance of
Boracay’s hotels, restaurants and other businesses. “You want to
close the island, but at the same time allow a casino operator
in?”
Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, who recently met with Boracay
business owners, acknowledged the contradiction, a local newspaper
reported, but noted that the new casino would need to secure an
environmental clearance certificate from his agency before
opening.
Nearly everyone on the 4-square-mile island is dependent on
tourism, and even before Mr Duterte’s order, some were
struggling.
“Right now, there should be twice the number of tourists here,”
said Mr Alfred Abuloc, 29, who owns a tiny restaurant. He wondered
aloud whether the president’s harsh words about the island “have
caused others to cancel.”
In 2010, The New York Times described Boracay, previously known
for its laid-back party culture, as Asia’s next tourism hot spot,
and since then it has landed on the covers and “best” lists of
travel magazines. Foreigners, most of them Chinese or South Korean,
crowd its beaches and shops, and local officials say the island
drew 2 million visitors last year.
The race for tourist dollars fueled rapid development. Bamboo
huts and modest, wood-framed inns gave way to modern hotels,
primarily along the 4-mile-long White Beach on the island’s western
side. A mall features American chains like Starbucks, KFC and
McDonald’s, and Caticlan Airport, 15 minutes away by ferry,
recently expanded to handle the flow of tourists.
The boom brought jobs and money, but overtaxed the island’s
water and garbage disposal systems and, crucially, its sewers and
storm drains.
Resort owners say the government promised a system that would
treat waste and runoff, and pump it far out to sea. What they got
instead, they say, was an inadequate treatment system, with many
properties illegally tapped into it, that dumps wastewater just off
the island’s eastern shore, at Bulabog Beach, an area famed for its
wind- and kite-surfing.
Video of black water gushing out of a pipe there, while a kite
surfer passed in the background, drew widespread attention this
year. Mr Duterte seized on it to begin a series of blistering
verbal attacks on development on Boracay.
Saying the water “smells,” and employing other, more colorful
words, Duterte ordered officials in the environment, tourism and
interior departments to undertake a cleanup. So far, the government
has not signaled what it will do to fix the problem, or when.
“We want the government to help us,” said Ms Graf, who operates
the Boracay Beach Resort on the western side of the island. But
closing the island, she said, “is another matter altogether. We
don’t want that.”
“Closure means the end of jobs,” she said, asking how local
workers were “going to eat in the next six months.” She predicted
that it would have ripple effects across the entire Philippine
economy.
“You close us down, and we will likely not recover from it,” she
added. “Tourism in Asia is very competitive.”
Boracay’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry has asked Mr Duterte
to reconsider, arguing that not all businesses are violators, and
that those found to be polluting should instead be cut off from the
water supply.
The proposed casino site is on the less developed, eastern side
of the island, and to make way for the project, local landowners
say they were forced to sell their property at below-market prices.
Some of the houses there have already been torn down, and a “no
trespassing” sign warns away visitors.
Many local people moved to Boracay from the country’s crowded
cities to find work, including Mr Abuloc, the restaurant owner, who
arrived five years ago from Manila, the capital. He and his wife,
whom he met while they both worked their way up in the tourism
industry, now have a 2-year-old boy.
“Maybe I’ll move elsewhere and go work as a construction
laborer,” he said.
The closing of the island, while drastic, is not the first time
that a government in the region has sacrificed tourist revenue in
the name of environmental protection. More than a decade ago, the
Malaysian island of Sipadan, famed for its diving, was closed to
tourists to allow its reefs to rehabilitate.
Ms Jaana Laht, 44, who visited Boracay recently with her
husband, Aadu, said she understood the logic.
“This is such a beautiful island, it’s a shame to close it down
to tourists,” Ms Laht said as she posed for pictures on White
Beach. “It’s a shame, but if it is to save the environment, maybe
it will be worth it in the long run.” THE NEW YORK TIMES