Relax - More Boracay casinos being planned

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ILOILO CITY, Philippines - More resorts are planning to operate casinos on Boracay Island despite opposition from religious and business groups.

La Carmela de Boracay resort and Crown Regency Resort and Convention Center have submitted separate letters of intent to the Malay municipal council asking to be allowed to operate casinos in their establishments.

Malay Councilor Jonathan Cabrera, chair of the council's committee on good government and member of the committee on tourism, games and amusement, said the two resorts submitted their proposals at a public hearing on the operation of casinos on the island on March 17.

La Carmela de Boracay, a beach front resort in Barangay Balabag, plans to put a casino in its resort.

Junket gaming

Another resort, Crown Regency Resort and Convention Center, which is on the island's main road also in Barangay Balabag, is planning to operate junket gaming, which would allow its resort to be used as venue for preorganized gambling tournaments for foreign players.

Both proposals are pending at the municipal council's committee on games and amusement and on laws, Cabrera said on Tuesday.

The council on Jan. 25 passed a resolution endorsing the proposal of Cariño Development Management Corp. to build a casino at the posh 120-hectare Fairways and Bluewater Resort Golf and Country Club at the northern end of the 1,032-ha island.

In its resolution, the council said allowing casinos would bring additional revenues to the municipality and could attract more tourists.

Ill effects

But Church and business groups have been opposing plans to operate casinos on the island as this would worsen social problems and harm Boracay's image.

Fr. Magloire Placer, Boracay parish priest, said casinos would worsen prostitution, illegal gambling and alcoholism.

Placer called as alarming the increasing number of proposals to operate casinos.

"It's like opening a Pandora's box. Once you allowed one casino, how can you stop more from coming?" Placer said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

He said many resorts and hotels on the island could afford to set up and operate casinos.

"What will happen to this beautiful island when more and more casinos come in? Will we allow Boracay to become a gambling capital?" he said.

Residents protest

Rufina Villaroman, president of Kiwanis Club of Boracay and a native of the island, said residents were willing to join protest actions to stop casinos.

"We want to live peacefully here and the casinos will ruin families. We don't want our island to become a gambling destination," she said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

Boracay Foundation Inc., a group of business operators that had opposed past proposals to open a casino on the island, said allowing one casino to operate would prompt the opening of several more.

More Boracay casinos being planned

By Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Philippine Daily Inquirer, ANN | Wed, Mar 23 2011

More resorts are planning to operate casinos on Boracay Island despite opposition from religious and business groups.

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