HEALING BORACAY
B ORACAY – Doreen Fugoso had barely landed a job as chef in one of the big hotels here when word got around that President Rodrigo Duterte had ordered the closure of the island for six months.
“I had not reached a year yet in my job when the closure happened. At that time, I thought how was my life going to be?,” Fugoso said, as she recalled her initial reaction last April 26 when the government finally flexed and shut down the island.
But save for that after-thought, it didn’t cross Fugoso’s mind that she would have to pack her bags permanently and forget about the island.
She was going to give Boracay another chance, and wait things out as the government tried to heal the ills of the world-famous tourist destination.
Thus, after applying for the government’s financial assistance, she just went back to General Santos City where she hails, and patiently waited until the call back from her hotel.
“I didn’t look for a job. I really waited for the island to reopen,” she said.
Like Fugoso, many of Boracay’s workers were unperturbed that they may have to go jobless as Boracay was being rehabilitated.
After all, the island, which had been consistently listed as one of the world’s most desirable tourist destinations, offered so much promise that not even a six-month closure could erase. It reopens partially on October 26.
“People have this connotation that once you have worked in Boracay, you are good. I see it as an advantage, a passport to a better future, say, when I apply abroad or in other places,” Fugoso explained.
Tricycle driver Nonoy Nicolas is also returning even if he knows that he may no longer be able to earn the 11,200-aday that he got in the eight years that he transported tourists and locals around the island. That’s because part of the rehabilitation efforts would be the immediate phase-out of fossil fuel-powered tricycles.
“I might resort to becoming a porter. What’s important is it’s a clean job,” he said.
More importantly, Nicolas is now more conscious of the reality that for as long as the beauty of Boracay is preserved, so would be his source of livelihood.
“If Boracay would stay beautiful, of course, we would continue to have many tourists. And that would mean a good income,” he said.
Despite being implemented drastically, resort owner Nenette Tirol said they were thankful of the government’s will power to put the island under a halfyear rehabilitation.
And after complying with all the environmental requirements, Tirol’s two-decades-old business will be one among the several resorts that will be allowed to open on October 26.
As a matter of fact, they are already fully-booked until May next year.
“All of these things are now a thing of the past. We are looking forward to serving all our guests,” she said.
But Tirol has an appeal to all who will be visiting Boracay starting next week.
“I am hoping and I am praying that everybody who comes here…will be very conscious of environmental cleanlioperations ness… it’s not all about money, it’s all about taking care of God’s gift to all of us,” she said.
Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Sec. Mark Villar said that they are convinced that for the road construction from Cagban port to the main commercial area would be 80 percent done on the island’s reopening. "We are on track," he said. “The hard work is on the laying down of pipes, which is finished…the road itself is just the icing… hopefully, the weather continues to be cooperative. I don’t see any reason we won’t be finished by 80 percent by the 26th,” he added.
Villar said the Phase 1 of the road project worth 1500 million will be completely done in December.
After which, they will proceed with the succeeding phases to improve the whole circumferential road in Boracay.
If Boracay would stay beautiful, of course, we would continue to have many tourists. And that would mean a good income. — Nonoy Nicolas Tricycle driver