MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte is now encouraging to have a casino established in Boracay Island now that the government needs more funds.
Duterte on Thursday seemed to have reversed his previous pronouncements against gambling, now saying a gambling house is needed since the government is running out of funds.
“‘Pag sinabi: ‘Ito si Duterte, bakit sabi mo ayaw mo ang sugal, tapos ngayon ‘yung casino sa Boracay, ‘yung gambling house doon, ine-encourge mong buksan para sa tourists?’ Patawarin na po ninyo ako for the contradiction,” he said in a public address.
(If they say, ‘you said before that you were against gambling but you are now encouraging to open the casino in Boracay for tourists?’ Forgive me for the contradiction.)
“Ngayon wala tayong pera, kung saan man tayo makakuha ng pera, kukunin ko. Kung diyan sa gambling, so be it,” he added.
(We have no money now and I would get money whenever I could. If it’s from gambling, so be it.)
“Ngayon kung nagkamali ako, tama ‘yan, nagkamali ako. Kung wala akong islang salita diyan, tama ‘yan wala akong isang salita diyan pero kailangan ko ng pera para patakbuhin ang gobyerno kasi marami akong nagastos,” he added.
(Now if I were wrong there, yes, I am wrong. If I didn’t stand by my word, yes, I didn’t but we need money to keep the government running because we have a lot of expenses.)
In April 2018, Duterte said he is against the building of a casino in Boracay after Galaxy Macau’s Galaxy Entertainment Group and its local partner, AB Leisure Exponent Inc., announced their plan of a $500-million integrated casino resort in the famous island resort.
He reasoned that it was the residents of Boracay who insisted on a no-casino policy in the famous resort island.
In July this year, Duterte allowed the resumption of gambling activities such as the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) as the country needed more funds to address the pandemic.