
Boracay Island in Philippines Shut Down for Environmental Rehabilitation (2018) - DoreenMichele
https://www.latestly.com/lifestyle/travel/boracay-island-in-philippines-shut-down-for-environmental-rehabilitation-130670.html
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mjohnre
Boracay is open since October 2018. The rehabilitation is still ongoing though
and visits are regulated[0]. Cases have been filed against officials.
Businesses found in violation of environmental laws have been closed down.
Infrastructure has also been rehabilitated. Land titles were given to
indigenous people through land reform.

It was deemed impossible at the beginning. Imagine cleaning up an island and
disrupting the status quo. Some opposed it because of economic impact. Rumors
of a casino to be built were unfounded. But seeing the result after, it proved
that it can be done through holistic approach. It's one step to responsible
tourism. More needs to be done. There's hope for the environment.

The next challenge is the rehabilitation of Manila Bay [1].

[0]
[https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/09/02/1847925/25-bor...](https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/09/02/1847925/25-boracay-
hotels-resorts-get-dot-nod)

[1]
[https://www.philstar.com/nation/2019/03/03/1898154/5-million...](https://www.philstar.com/nation/2019/03/03/1898154/5-million-
kilos-trash-removed-manila-bay-dilg)

~~~
pull_my_finger
Do you have a source on that land _actually_ being given to the locals? I know
they mentioned it, but they were also offering to buy a lot of land as people
were failing to make ends meet during the shutdown.[0][1]

0 - [https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1000242/rodrigo-duterte-
boraca...](https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1000242/rodrigo-duterte-boracay-land-
reform)

1 - [https://www.rappler.com/nation/204796-duterte-boracay-
native...](https://www.rappler.com/nation/204796-duterte-boracay-natives-sell-
land-big-businesses)

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lostlogin
> A popular hub for tourism, some business owners and resort owners had
> opposed the shut down of the island but care has been taken to deal with the
> opposition.

Duterte is a scary leader. The above line about dealing with opposition is not
at all reassuring when extrajudicial killings are a standard part of his
governance.

~~~
duskwuff
Especially in light of the details that follow:

> Armed security personnel have been sent to provide "maximum" security to the
> island.

~~~
tungwaiyip
How did this shutdown came about? It sounds to me it is a top down decision to
shutdown basically the entire island and all its economic activities for six
months. I wonder how many people gone bankrupt due to this.

What exactly is the environmental rehabilitation being done? Why does it
necessitate a shutdown? Would the return of tourists eventually undo all the
"rehabilitation"?

~~~
tungwaiyip
"MANILA - A shutdown of Boracay Island could lead to job losses for 36,000
people and P56 billion in lost revenue, stakeholders said Thursday, as they
appealed for a partial, instead of a full closure.

Around P56 billion in tourism revenue will be lost if the island is closed for
9 months, based on the island's revenue during the first 9 months of 2017,
data showed. This is equivalent to roughly 20 percent of the country's total
tourism receipts."

[https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/03/22/18/boracay-
shutdown-...](https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/03/22/18/boracay-
shutdown-36000-jobs-p56-billion-revenues-may-be-lost)

Consider also the armed security comment, this really shows the way of a
totalitarian government.

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rootsudo
Been in Boracay.

It's over-rated, there are much more beautiful places in the Philippines.

It's considered largely a failure, the shutdown from most people as most of
the cleaning work was not sufficient and was a farce for Chinese Casinos to
open up in the are for the influx of Chinese and Korean tourists. This was
later given more steam by filipino workers posting photos of themselves on
instagram being card dealers, wearing uniforms, etc.

It's been open for the past 6 months now.

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stevetodd
Was my favorite vacation spot for years until I moved from the Philippines in
‘99. The water and beaches were beautiful. Even at that point, however, the
coral was mostly dead and the marine life mostly gone. It was sad and it’s too
bad that the place has largely been thrashed. :-(

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drinane
So good to hear... this used to be one of Jacques Cousteau's favorite dive
areas. Went there in 2008 and it was beautiful, but the reefs didn't look
healthy at all. Pretty sad to see.

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matchagaucho
Old news. Re-opened.

~~~
0xcafecafe
The irony is the url has the word "latest" in it :)

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li_am
I visited Boracay around 2012, expecting a beautiful island we were shocked by
the state we found it in - barely left the hotel all week.

------
bwilli123
April 2018

~~~
icoder
Indeed. And it's already open again.

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bovermyer
Overtourism is a problem in many places, but not everywhere.

The real issue is that people keep going to the _same_ places as everyone
else, instead of checking out the less-traveled places.

~~~
infiniteseeker
Yeah, I personally fail to understand this. I have definitely been guilty of
it myself as well.

Every once in a while, I will come across a video on Youtube where some
vlogger is at some beach in Thailand or popular touristy night market, or
other backpacker haunt and I think, "why do we do this to ourselves?...might
as well go to your local nightlife district/beach rather then flying to the
other side of the world and going to their nightlife district/beach...". Seems
boring.

~~~
b_t_s
This is one reason I prefer the philippines over thailand. Thailand has
amazing food and beautiful beaches, but even second and third tier
destinations are so overcrowded with 20something drunk eropean backpackers
it's hard to appreciate. Philippines has like a billion islands and beaches,
so you can go anywhere except boracay(and maybe a half dozen other popular
destinations) and you've practically got the place to yourself.

