Tourism chief Teo: No word from Duterte on Boracay casino proposal

President Rodrio Duterte did not make any comment on the proposal of Macau-based Galaxy Entertainment Group and its local partner to build a casino in Boracay island when the firms presented their plans in Malacañang in December last year, Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo said Saturday.

During a press conference in Quezon City, Teo confirmed that she was present when officials of Galaxy Entertaiment and Leisure and Resorts World Corp. paid a courtesy call on the President on December 6, 2017.

"We were there last December, they (Galaxy) made a presentation and they told the President, 'We want to build a casino in Boracay...'," Teo said. 

"But the President did not make any comment. It was just a presentation so we end that and  we don't know what happened already," Teo said.

On Monday, Duterte clarified that there is no plan so far for the government to entertain a casino project in the Boracay island, which will undergo a six-month closure for rehabilitation. 

"Wala akong plano diyan [na] casino-casino. Tama na 'yan kasi sobra na. Casino dito, casino doon. Give it to the people who need it most," he said.

Photos released by the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) show the President is seen with officials of the Galaxy Entertainment Group Limited led by its Chairman Dr. Lui Che Woo when the group paid a courtesy call on the President in Malacañang late last year.  

Teo reiterated that the three government agencies —Department of Tourism, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Department of the Interior and Local Government —which recommended the total closure of Boracay island for six months starting April 26, are against the plan to build a casino in the prime tourist destination.

Last month, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. granted Galaxy and LRWC a provisional license for Boracay Philippines Resort and Leisure Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Galaxy Entertainment.

Galaxy Entertainment and LRWC intend to build a $500-million integrated resort-casino complex in a 23-hectare property in Barangay Manoc-Manoc on Boracay Island. —LBG, GMA News