“It is already clear to the public that Duterte’s directive to rehabilitate the island is only a “lutong macau” because there are already giant conglomerates that will replace local infrastructures and businesses in the island.”
By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Despite President Duterte’s efforts to distance himself from the proposed Chinese-owned casino resort project in Boracay, Bayan Muna Partylist representatives filed a resolution in Congress directing the Committee on Natural Resources and Committee on Ecology to jointly investigate the looming shutdown of Boracay.
The progressive partylist is concerned with the environmental issues that have repeatedly surfaced concerning Boracay, but it is skeptical of the real plans of the Duterte administration. Weeks before issuing pronouncements against “cesspool” Boracay, the Duterte administration approved a Chinese-owned mega casino project in the island.
President Duterte denies knowledge of the casino but his activities showed a different picture. The President Communications Operations Office said in a press release December 6 last year that 
Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate finds it very ironic, even intriguing, he said, that while the government recommends the island’s closure for months for its supposed rehabilitation, it allowed the entry and construction of a mega casino-resort.
Through the Philippine Amusements and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor), the government granted Galaxy Entertainment Group (GEG) and its listed local partner Leisure and Resorts World Corp. (LRWC) a gaming license to operate a $500-million integrated 23-hectare casino-resort in Boracay, with the construction to begin soon, said Bayan Muna.
Aside from the high-end casino, Pamalakaya said, a certain DoubleDragon Properties Corp. confirmed that they will build the country’s largest hotel by room count in Boracay dubbed as Hotel 101 Resorts. The two-hectare property will have 1,001 rooms that will be located inside Megaworld’s Boracay Newcoast.
Boracay is currently hosting an average of 14,182 visitors daily. Bayan Muna worries that in the name of “rehabilitation,” small local businesses and jobs of tens of thousands of people may be eased out by favored big-ticket projects in Boracay.
For the fisherfolk group Pamalakaya, the total closure is undemocratic. It has previously scored the Duterte administration for what it calls “sweeping decision without democratic consultation” with the affected stakeholders especially the workers.
“The government must stand and support local small businesses over foreign-owned large businesses. The sale of our lands, resources, and work force to foreign corporations have historically destroyed our environment and exploited and endangered our workers without heed,” Zarate said in Bayan Muna’s resolution.
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