The government will not allow the construction of a casino in Boracay Island, Interior secretary Eduardo Año stressed. “First of all, the President (Rodrigo Duterte) had already decided and announced that no construction of casino Boracay will be allowed,” Año told attendees of a pre-2018 State of the Nation Address forum at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City. Duterte ordered the closure of Boracay on April 26 and declared a state of calamity in the island’s three barangays Yapak, Manoc-manoc and Balabag. He called the famed tourist destination a “cesspool” because of its wastewater and garbage management problems. Cimatu said during the House hearing the situation in the island has improved.

Boracay off-limits to casinos - Año. (2018, July 13). Panay News, p. 13.