{"id":184648,"date":"2021-09-02T08:53:57","date_gmt":"2021-09-02T15:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=184648"},"modified":"2021-09-02T14:23:59","modified_gmt":"2021-09-02T21:23:59","slug":"duterte-u-turn-on-boracay-casino-causes-environmental-concern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-u-turn-on-boracay-casino-causes-environmental-concern\/","title":{"rendered":"Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte U-Turn on Boracay Casino Has Environmental Concern"},"content":{"rendered":"

Environmental groups have lashed out at Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s decision to allow a casino resort on the idyllic vacation island of Boracay.<\/p>\n

\"Rodrigo
President Rodrigo Duterte, seen in a press photo above, has changed his mind about a casino on Boracay, which he once closed for six months for an environmental clean-up. (Image: AP<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last week, the strongarm leader\u2019s spokesman, Harry Roque, announced the ban on casinos on the island would be lifted. The U-turn was necessary to finance the country\u2019s battle against the pandemic, Roque explained.<\/p>\n

Previously, Duterte vowed there would never be a casino resort on Boracay, adding the decision was \u201cthe voice of God.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Last Saturday, Roque said in a statement the president had \u201cgiven his go-signal allowing the operation of a casino in Boracay.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Andrea Domingo, chair of Philippine gaming regulator PAGCOR, was asked by reporters which plans Duterte had approved. Was it the Galaxy project or another previously mooted \u201cMegaworld\u201d proposal from Philippine tycoon Andrew Tan, who has an interest in Resorts World Manila?<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth,\u201d she replied, without elaborating.<\/p>\n

Ecosystem Threatened By Tourism<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Philippine tourism boom has taken its toll on Boracay\u2019s coastline. Until Duterte\u2019s crackdown in 2018, the beaches were being spoiled by the discharge of untreated wastewater into the sea, which also damaged the coral reef.<\/p>\n

However, since 2018, the explosion of unregulated commercial development and million tourists per year has threatened the island\u2019s ecosystem.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In April 2018, Duterte ordered the complete shutdown of the island for six months for environmental clean-up, branding it a \u201ccesspit\u201d that \u201csmelled of sh*t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

At that time, Macau-based Galaxy Entertainment received a provisional permit to develop a $500 million casino resort on Boracay. When quizzed by reporters, Duterte denied knowing this, despite having publicly met with Galaxy chairman Lui Che Woo four months previously to discuss the development.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThe voice of the people is the voice of God,\u201d he told Philippine media. \u201cIf it is the wish of the population here that they do not want a casino, then there will be no casino.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paradise Lost<\/h2>\n

Tan told ABS-CBN News he was ready to proceed with his plan for Boracay, offering assurances his company would\u00a0\u201cadhere to all government environmental policies.”<\/p>\n

\n

It\u2019s not clear whether Galaxy<\/a> still has an interest in Boracay. Analyst Sanford C. Bernstein said in a note Wednesday that China\u2019s ongoing crackdown on overseas gambling could discourage the company at a time when its Macau license is up for renewal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Environmental advocate and human rights lawyer Tony La Vi\u00f1a was just one of the voices questioning the decision to The South China Morning Post<\/em> this week. He wondered why the government would risk losing everything achieved in the six-month clean-up.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoracay will die, all the sacrifices from and gains achieved in the closure [will be] gone,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Environmental groups have lashed out at Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s decision to allow a casino resort on the idyllic vacation island of Boracay. Last week, the strongarm leader\u2019s spokesman, Harry Roque, announced the ban on casinos on the island would be lifted. The U-turn was necessary to finance the country\u2019s battle against the pandemic, Roque […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":184650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69069,61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDuterte U-Turn on Boracay Casino Causes Environmental Concern<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Boracay casino is back in the cards, thanks to Duterte flip-flop but is Galaxy Entertainment still as interested as Andrew Tan?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-u-turn-on-boracay-casino-causes-environmental-concern\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Duterte U-Turn on Boracay Casino Causes Environmental Concern\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Boracay casino is back in the cards, thanks to Duterte flip-flop but is Galaxy Entertainment still as interested as Andrew Tan?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-u-turn-on-boracay-casino-causes-environmental-concern\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-02T15:53:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-02T21:23:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/duterte1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1228\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"694\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-u-turn-on-boracay-casino-causes-environmental-concern\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-u-turn-on-boracay-casino-causes-environmental-concern\/\",\"name\":\"Duterte U-Turn on Boracay Casino Causes Environmental Concern\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-u-turn-on-boracay-casino-causes-environmental-concern\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-u-turn-on-boracay-casino-causes-environmental-concern\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/duterte1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-02T15:53:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-02T21:23:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Boracay casino is back in the cards, thanks to Duterte flip-flop but is Galaxy Entertainment still as interested as Andrew Tan?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-u-turn-on-boracay-casino-causes-environmental-concern\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-u-turn-on-boracay-casino-causes-environmental-concern\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-u-turn-on-boracay-casino-causes-environmental-concern\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/duterte1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/duterte1.jpg\",\"width\":1228,\"height\":694,\"caption\":\"President Rodrigo Duterte has changed his mind about a casino on Boracay, which he wants closed for six months for an environmental clean-up. 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