SWS: 64% of Filipinos okay Boracay closure; most support Duterte

Some residents and tourists enjoy Boracay’s beaches on May 1 after the government shut down the island for a six-month rehabilitation. INQUIRER FILE / LYN RILLON

At least 64 percent of Filipinos are supportive of the government’s decision to close and rehabilitate Boracay island, with most of them also supporting President Rodrigo Duterte, a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey said.

The survey held from March 23 to 27 said that 38 percent strongly agreed and 26 percent somewhat agreed with the closure.  On the other hand, 20 percent disagreed with it and 17 percent were undecided.

Another 64 percent believed that the closure would help in the rehabilitation of island resort, while 16 percent said that it would not help at all; 61 percent thought that the closure would result to more tourist arrivals in the future, while 16 percent thought otherwise.

SWS noted correlations between the support for the Boracay closure and the trust and satisfaction with Duterte.

For an instance, the research firm said that more agreed with the measure among respondents who trust the president, with a net agreement score of +49 among those who trust, and just a +32 among those who had little trust in him.

Meanwhile, scores of +48 were recorded among those who were satisfied with the president, and +35 with those who were dissatisfied.

The belief that the closure would reap benefits was also higher among those who trust and were satisfied with President Duterte (68 percent), compared to who did not trust and were not satisfied (58 percent).

Duterte supporters also believe that more tourists will arrive after the measure (63 percent) compared to those with little trust (57 percent) and those dissatisfied (60 percent).

Most of those who agreed with Boracay’s closure came from Mindanao, where the president hails from, with a net agreement of +55 (extremely strong), along with scores of +49 (very strong) in Metro Manila, and +45 (very strong) in Balance Luzon.

In the Visayas, where Boracay is located, a moderately strong net agreement score of +26 was obtained — the lowest of all the locales surveyed.

A bigger number of respondents from the urban areas also agreed with the measure, with a net agreement of +50 (extremely strong), compared to those in the rural areas which registered a score of +38 (very strong).

On April 2018, President Duterte’s administration declared a state of calamity in the famed tourist spot, initiating clean-up efforts while restricting access to visitors.

The closure is scheduled for six months, with Boracay reopening in October 2018.

READ: Duterte approves 6-month closure of Boracay, starting April 26

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/980185/boracay-closure-rodrigo-duterte

SWS said that they used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 respondents, with 300 each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.  Sampling error margins of ±3% were maintained for national percentages and ±6% for the locales. /cbb