TALK OF CASINO SPURS ALARM: WILL BORACAY BE GAMING PARADISE?
RESIDENTS and business owners opposed the idea of any casinos operating on Boracay, often hailed as the crown jewel of Philippine tourism.
One source whose company manages a string of resorts in the country, including Boracay, told the Businessmirror: “Boracay already has its own natural market WITHOUT the casinos! In fact it’s this [administration] that has put out this script that Boracay has a carrying capacity ergo, it capped the number of flights and the number of guests entering the island, right? It only means that it has reached the maximum number of guest—so the argument that Boracay needs additional warm bodies [now of the wrong type : gamblers] is null and void.”
Restaurateur Nowie Potenciano, owner of the popular Sunny Side Cafe, worried “about the changes that the entry of Chinese casinos will have on Boracay. While there will be visitors coming in, I fear it will be at too high a price. As we’ve seen in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, a beach paradise radically transformed by Chinese casinos, the character of Boracay will become unrecognizable.
And with the entry of casinos comes crime, prostitution, and displaced locals—all of these we do not want to happen to the island. I would prefer that investment in Boracay is better in the direction of wellness and a return to nature.
These have always been the island’s strengths and will be the sustainable way to go moving forward.”
Prior to Boracay’s closure, casinos already operating there were those owned by Alpha Allied Holdings Ltd. in juice king Alfred Yao’s Movenpick Resort & Spa, Crown Regency Resort and Convention Center of the Cebubased King family, and Paradise Garden Resort Hotel and Convention Center of entrepreneur Joey Peña. Other investors with gaming licenses include Leisure and Resorts World Corp. (LRWC) in partnership with Galaxy Entertainment of Macau, taipan Andrew Tan’s Alliance Global in Savoy Hotel, and Hotel Soffia owner Archibald Po.
The Boracay Inter-agency Task Force, chaired by Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu, earlier requested the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. to pull out all the gaming licenses of casinos operating on the island before its closure on April 26, 2018, as well as those still to be constructed. (See, “Cancel Boracay casino licenses, TF tells Pagcor,” in the Businessmirror, October 22, 2018.)
Duterte, in a public conversation with select members of the Cabinet on August 26, said he allowed the operation of a casino on Boracay because he needed government revenues. In Filipino he said, “Forgive me for the contradiction. We don’t have any money now, so I will get it from wherever I can. If it’s from gaming, then so be it.” Duterte in 2018, called Boracay a “cesspool” after seeing images of a drain pipe spewing untreated sewage into the waters of Bulabog Beach.
A long-time businessman on Boracay, who requested anonymity, believes Duterte’s remarks are just meant to deflect attention from “the Senate blue ribbon investigation into [the overpriced] face shields and face masks. Galaxy has yet to put up one single post [on its property]. There is no earthmoving activity. If ever they get the go-signal to operate, it would be three years before the project will be completed. I don’t see how it will help generate revenues for him.”
The businessman added, “If the casinos will help and donate a quarantine facility and donate more bed capacity in our hospital, then they will be helpful. If the casinos are only for foreign tourists, then it will have no conflict with the locals.” If the previous casinos will be allowed to reopen, he also doubted they would operate during the pandemic.
“They will just lose. Boracay now is close-open, close-open because of the changing community quarantines. Hotels and other businesses are having difficulty with this.”