Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 27) — President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday asked Congress to pass a measure creating the Boracay Island Development Authority to sustain gains from the rehabilitation of the popular tourist destination.
“We have shared the remarkable re-emergence of the island back to its former glory, I want this sustained,” Duterte said during his fifth State of the Nation Address.
In 2018, Duterte ordered the six-month closure of the top beach destination, saying Boracay has become a “cesspool.”
Earlier in the speech, the President urged Filipinos to boost the economy by traveling locally “once necessary systems are in place.”
Boracay was the first top tourist spot to reopen since lockdowns were enforced due to COVID-19, but only visitors from the Western Visayas are allowed to go there for now. Western Visayas is composed of the provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, and Negros Occidental.
