The Philippines government has reiterated its intention to block any attempt by Macau casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group and its local partner, Leisure and Resorts World Corp (LRWC), to proceed with its planned US$500 million integrated resort on the Philippine holiday island of Boracay.
Speaking at an open forum of the 2nd pre-State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) 2018 Forum in Pasay City, Department of Local and Interior Government (DILG) Officer-in-Charge Secretary Eduardo Año stated, “The President had already decided and announced that no construction of casino Boracay will be allowed.
“The people go to Boracay to swim, not to gamble. So there will be no casino there.”
Año added that construction of any new casino in Boracay was opposed by the Boracay Rehabilitation Inter-Agency Task Force chief and Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu.
The future of Boracay has been a major topic of debate in recent months after President Duterte closed the entire island down to tourists on 26 April for six months in order to address serious pollution concerns.
Earlier that month Duterte had first expressed his opposition to Galaxy’s casino plans, stating at the time, “I don’t have plans there for casinos. There are enough, there is too much – casino here, casino there.
“Consider Boracay a land reform area. I will give it to the farmers first. I will issue a proclamation that all of the land will be agricultural. The law says it is forest, agricultural. Why would I deviate from that?”
His comments created plenty of confusion, coming just days after PAGCOR Chair Andrea Domingo revealed that the Philippine gaming regulator had granted Galaxy and LRWC a provisional casino license for their IR after securing a Letter of No Objection from the Boracay government.
Since then a number of government officials have supported Duterte’s casino comments, however neither Galaxy nor LRWC have indicated as yet any intention to revise their original casino plans.
