Palace backs DOJ: EO needed for casino ban in Boracay

In this photo, taken on Oct. 27, 2018, tourists walk on a rehabilitated beach on Boracay. A day earlier, when the island reopened, tourists landed by boatloads on the resort island. (Photo by NOEL CELIS / AFP)

Malacañang agreed on Monday that an executive order, as recommended by the Department of Justice, would be needed to enforce the ban on casinos and gambling in Boracay, which reopened on Oct. 26 after a 6-month closure for rehabilitation.

“I think, so yes,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a Palace briefing when asked about the issue.

“The policy of the President is there should be no gambling casino inside Boracay because he feels that this is a family thing. Families go there, and he doesn’t want that there will be gambling inside Boracay,” Panelo said.

Panelo, also the chief legal counsel of the President, said, however, that he had not seen a draft of the EO.

“It will be coming from the Office of the Executive Secretary. I haven’t received any draft,” he said.

Duterte had earlier said that he was against building casinos in Boracay, declaring the 1,032-hectare resort island an agrarian reform area.

READ: Duterte against building of casino in Boracay

According to the President, the resort island, under the law, is an agricultural and forest area.

Last Oct. 26, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said in a press conference that an EO would be needed to enforce the casino ban earlier ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte. /atm