NOW, IT IS confirmed that the casino project in Boracay Island is a done deal, according to Negros Occidental’s Rep. Alfredo “Albee” Benitez.
In an interview last week on “News to Go”, Cong. Benitez said the land where the casino will be built has been identified and paid for, but the actual design of the proposed improvements is not yet finished.
Benitez is in the know because he was one of the founders of Leisure and Resorts World Corporation (LRWC) that is the local partner of Macao-based Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. that will build the $500-million integrated resort casino in Boracay. However, having entered politics, he severed his connection and divested himself of his share in the company.
On the other hand, in a press conference on Sunday last week when President Rodrigo R. Duterte arrived from Singapore, he said no casino will be built in Boracay, pointing out the “deleterious” effect of gambling. “There will never be one. Even bingohan, saan makita?”
But PAGCOR chair Andrea Domingo has confirmed the contract signing of the $500-million casino resort in Boracay as early as the third week of March 2018. Was the President not advised of the transaction? What about the local government of Malay? Did it know of this project?
We have written since last year three columns that mentioned of our un-inhabited islands in the Philippine Archipelago. We have 7,507 islands, including 400 newly discovered in February last year, as reported by the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA).
However, according to NAMRIA, out of our 7,507 islands, only 2,000 are inhabited and identified. The remaining 5,507 islands do not even have names yet.
To be considered an island, the landmass must be above sea level at high tide in any given time, and it can support plant and animal life.
We learned of our 7,107 islands since grade school. Now we have 7,507 islands, with the 400 added last year. How come government never had a program of opening the islands for new settlement or development similar to what was done in Mindanao during pre-war days when it was still undeveloped?
It is about time government explore our unnamed islands after so many years of not doing anything about them. NAMRIA can start the job of at least publishing a map to indicate the areas and location of the islands. Then Congress can pass a law to open them to new settlers, individuals or corporate, and then given assistance by government.
This time we can even spare a few islands for gambling casinos if they wish. Choose your own island or islands where you can build the casinos you want.
After all they claim that casinos being put up are not intended for “locals” but for foreign guests who came not to gamble but purposely to relax in our world-renowned white beach.
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Historical Quote of the Week
“The first Baptist Church in the Philippines is the Jaro Evangelical Church.” (For comments or re-actions, please e-mail to jnoveracompany@yahoo.com/PN)
