SC: Boracay closure constitutional

The Supreme Court has upheld the six-month rehabilitative closure of Boracay last year, public information office chief Brian Keith Hosaka said on Tuesday.

Hosaka said the Court ruled that the presidential directive, Proclamation No. 475, "did not pose an actual impairment of the right to travel."

"The impact of the said proclamation on the right to travel was temporary and merely incidental to the intended rehabilitation of the island," Hosaka said. "The Court also ruled that Proclamation No. 475 was a valid police power measure."

The confirmation on the ruling came a week after two sources of GMA News Online revealed the information.

The vote was 11-2. Associate Justices Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa and Marvic Leonen dissented.

A copy of the decision was not immediately available for reference. 

A day before Boracay was closed in April last year, two workers and a tourist petitioned the SC to stop the shutdown out of a concern for laborers there who may lose their jobs for months.

They claimed President Rodrigo Duterte acted without authority under the Constitution by ordering the closure.

The petitioners failed to secure a temporary restraining order from the SC. The shutdown proceeded from April 26 to October 26, 2018.

The closure of the popular tourist spot was governed by a presidential proclamation that declared a state of calamity in the barangays of Balabag, Manoc-Manoc, and Yapak in Malay town in Aklan.

"The state of calamity in the island of Boracay shall remain in force and effect until lifted by the President, notwithstanding the lapse of the six-month closure period," the proclamation read.

The declaration allowed government to tap up to P2 billion to help displaced workers on the island.—LDF, GMA News