President Rodrigo Roa Duterte delivers his 5th State of the Nation Address at the House of Representatives Complex in Quezon City on July 27, 2020. PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday asked Congress to pass a measure creating the Boracay Island Development Authority to sustain the gains from the six-month rehabilitation of the popular tourist destination.
“We have shared remarkable emergence of the island back to its former glory. I want this sustained. I ask Congress to enact a law creating, importante ito [this is important], the Boracay Island (Development) Authority or BIDA,” Duterte said during his fifth State of the Nation Address.
In 2018, Duterte ordered the six-month closure of the world-famous island resort to give way for its rehabilitation after saying that Boracay has become a “cesspool” because of its poor sewerage system.
He also said that part of the island will be placed under the government’s land reform program to be distributed to the island’s resident Indigenous Peoples.