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Boracay environmental issues only ‘smokescreen’ to allow casino construction —Zarate


Bayan Muna party-list Representative Carlos Zarate on Monday feared that the environmental issues hounding Boracay Island were only being used as a "smokescreen" to allow the construction of a casino there.

Zarate said the planned construction of a $500-million casino in the popular summer tourist destination will have a detrimental effect not only on the island's environment but also on its social landscape.

"As concerns are being raised now on the environmental situation in Boracay, the planned resort-casino is not only ill-timed but even dubious in the midst of the Duterte  administration's resolve to close Boracay yet allowing the construction of the proposed casino," he said in a statement.

"It really seems filthy fishy and leaves a bad taste in the mouth," he added.

Zarate said Macau-based company Galaxy Entertainment's Filipino partner in the planned casino, Leisure and Resorts World Corp., is allegedly controlled by allies of the Duterte administration.

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. has already signed the provisional license for the casino.

Zarate said that because of the Filipino corporation's supposed alliance with the administration, the public cannot be blamed for speculating that the move to close Boracay is only to give the administration's allies a "free hand" on the island.

"It seems that the environmental and sanitation issues are just being used as smokescreen, and even leverage against the people of Boracay," he said.

"After years of neglect and greed, the environmental and social problems of Boracay now certainly need to be addressed but not at the expense of its people, and it should not be used as a pretense for bigger problems, like a resort casino to come in," he added.

The Departments of Tourism, Interior and Local Government, and Environment and Natural Resources have recommended the closure of Boracay Island for six months starting April 26 for rehabilitation. —KG, GMA News

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