Manila, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte clarified on
Monday that the government has no plan to entertain Casino project for Boracay
island, as rumored.
The president delivered the statement in a press conference
in Davao City before heading out to China.
"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.
"In the meantime, there's no plan. My order was to
clean it up. So mag-clean, sarado. There's one way in, one way out," the
president added.
"I never said anything about building anything or even
a nipa hut there. What I said is that that island itself is owned by the
government," Duterte said.
"I've said it before — agricultural 'yan, pati
forestal. Unless there is a law or a proclamation of the President setting
aside anything there, any inch of land maybe, then that could be alright for
all those people to come in," he added.
Furthermore, the president also announced that Boracay would
be placed under a land reform and would be given to farmers once the six-month
rehabilitation is completed.
"'Yung mga casino, who owns the casino? Hotels? Big
ones? Who owns them? 'Yung mga mayaman, pati mga dayo. Eh agricultural man
['yung lupa], eh 'di ibalik ko sa farmers," Duterte said.
Earlier, Senator Antonio Trillanes, questioned the real
motive of the island’s “haste” shutdown which will take effect on April 26.
“Ang suspetsa ko rito kaya nila painapasara yung Boracay
para maipasok yung mga kargamento – ‘yung mga semento o anuman para maitayo
‘yung casino na ‘yun. ‘Yan ang suspetsa ko but we will validate that kasi it
doesn’t make sense at all to close it…” Trillanes said.
He said that Boracay could be rehabilitated without shutting
it down, and pointed out the ‘coincidence’ when the big-time casino owner made
a courtesy call to the president in December last year
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