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Leisure & Resorts World confirms $500-M Boracay hotel to push through


Leisure and Resorts World Corp. confirmed on Monday that its casino resort hotel in Boracay, in partnership Macau-based Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd., is definitely pushing through as planned.

“A subsidiary of LRWC acquired approximately 23 hectares of land in Barangay Manoc-Manoc, Boracay Island, Malay, Aklan” the company said in a regulatory filing submitted by Katrina Nepomuceno, vice president, corporate secretary and compliance officer at Leisure & Resorts World.

“Consistent with the pronouncement of PAGCOR Chairperson Andrea Domingo, it is expected that PAGCOR will issue a provisional license to Galaxy Entertainment Group (GEG) before the end of this month,” the filing said to clarify a query from the Philippine Stock Exchange.

On Friday, Domingo told GMA News Online that Galaxy Entertainment and Leisure and Resorts World will build a $500-million casino resort despite a government plan to close the island totally for up to one year for an environmental clean-up and rehabilitation.

“Yes, we are signing the contract for their provisional license before the end of the month,” Domingo said.

LRWC shares closed Monday at P7.06 per share, up P0.76 or 12.06 percent from Friday’s close of P6.30 per share.

Galaxy Entertainment revealed last December that it would be investing as much as $500 million to build an integrated casino resort in the Philippines.

“Upon the issuance of the said license through the partnership between LRWC and GEG, an integrated resort will be constructed in the said property,” Leisure and Resorts World said in its disclosure.

DoubleDragon Properties Corp. also plans to build the “biggest” hotel in the country in Boracay under the Hotel101 brand.

Hotel101 Resorts-Boracay will have a total of 1,001 rooms, the most in the country, and will rise on Megaworld Corp.’s 150-hectare estate.

“We’re still in the planning and design stages that also takes time naman: on finalizing your plans and securing the permits. So it wouldn’t delay construction,” DoubleDragon chief investment officer Hannay Yulo said, in response to the planned closure.

Over the weekend, hotel and resort owners in Boracay held a silent protest against the planned shutdown of the island by shutting off lights for eight minutes.

The shutdown was recommended by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Interior and Local Government (DILG), and Tourism (DOT), following remarks of President Rodrigo Duterte labeling the island a “cesspool.”

“I will close Boracay. Boracay is a cesspool,” the President said in February.
 —With Jon Viktor Cabuenas/VDS, GMA News

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