Authorities prepare for worst as Philippines tourist ‘paradise’ is shut down
The Philippines closed its most famous holiday island to tourists on Thursday for a sixmonth clean-up, which the government has enforced by sending in police.
Coastguard boats were on patrol along Boracay’s blue waters and police with assault rifles were posted at entry points to the once-pristine island, which has become tainted by commercialisation and over-development.
“Boracay is officially closed to tourists,” said regional police chief Cesar Binag. “We are not closing establishments, but tourists cannot enter. We are implementing the instruction of the president.”
Epimaco Densing, Assistant Secretary for the Ministry of Interior, said that a security contingent of 600 policemen was “just part of preparing for the worst”.
President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the shutdown this month after calling the resort a cesspool, dirtied by tourismrelated businesses dumping raw sewage into the ocean.
Only residents with ID cards are allowed to board ferries to the tiny island, which is home to about 40,000 people. On Thursday morning, police began to patrol the beach to enforce a ban on swimming, except in one designated area.
Boats are barred from sailing within 3 kilometres of the shoreline, and only Boracay residents are allowed to fish.
The Philippines has pledged to use the closure to improve the island’s infrastructure, bulldoze illegal buildings and clean up the mess left by years of unchecked growth.
There were no violent protests before the closure but there was concern for the fate of about 30,000 people employed in the island’s tourist trade.
They were drawn by good wages on the island, where the number of visitors has quadrupled to 2 million since 2006.
Those tourists, a growing number of whom are Chinese and Korean, pumped about US$1 billion (Dh3.67bn) into the economy last year.
But its growth from a sleepy backpacker hideaway into a mass-tourism centre with fastfood outlets on the beach has taken a toll.
Unchecked construction has eaten away at the island’s natural beauty, while slimy, algae-filled waves and mountains of discarded drink bottles are problems acknowledged by even critics of the closure.
“I’m all for rehabilitation and preserving it but clearly this is not the way to do it,” Philippine political analyst Ashley Acedillo said.
He called the closure an “illthought-through, unplanned and knee-jerk action” that did not take into account the economic effect on workers and the business community.