Construction to begin in 2019
The local government of Boracay Island in the Philippines has gotten behind a proposed $500 million casino project without the benefit of public hearings. According to the Philippine Inquirer, officials in Malay, a municipality in Aklan Province that includes the resort island, approved the project just before it imposed a moratorium on new casinos.
Malay Vice-Mayor Abram Sualog said council passed the resolution without public comment because there are already four existing foreigners-only casinos on the island. The fifth also will bar locals from entering to play, he said. He added that the moratorium will limit these kinds of establishments.
Critics of the project, to be developed by Macau casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group and local partner Leisure Resorts World Corp., include the Catholic Church in Aklan and some residents. They say the project is inconsistent with a yearlong closure of the island, proposed by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte as part of a massive cleanup.
Kalibo Bishop Jose Corazon Tala-oc said casinos “destroy the moral fiber” of families and lead to crime. He said the diocese may hold prayer rallies to show its opposition to the project.
Some residents slammed local officials after seeing a photo on social media showing Aklan Governor Florencio Miraflores and Malay Mayor Ciceron Cawaling in Macau, reportedly as guests of Galaxy.
According to the Philippine Star, “reckless, pell-mell development” has left the island in bad shape, with dirt roads, stagnant pools of water and a “huge sewage problem.” The main highway “is now a traffic-choked ribbon of dust and heat, with garbage in parts, unfinished civic works, flooded gutters, indiscriminately parked vehicles and non-pedestrian spaces where tourists checking out the establishments lining the road are forced to dance a dangerous tango with cars and tricycles rumbling by,” the newspaper reported.
But Galaxy Entertainment Group says the new casino could bring in US$100 million in annual revenue to the island. Construction will start next year, according to the ABS-CBN media outlet; development could take three years and will create “hundreds” of jobs, said Francis Lui Yiu Tung, Galaxy Entertainment’s deputy chairman.
“What excited us, one of the reasons, has to be the new airport which was built last year, giving direct access to international market to bring in some high-end customers,” said Lui.
LRWC founder Alfredo Benitez, who is also a Philippine lawmaker, said Galaxy Entertainment will be sensitive to environmental concerns, building a “low-rise” eco-friendly development.
Galaxy says it aims to attract “affluent customers from China, Hong Kong and Macau.” But Felino Palafox, Philippine architect and urban planner, said the resort “might be the wrong land use at the wrong place at the wrong time,” given the government’s cleanup plan.
