{"id":22837,"date":"2021-09-21T11:48:03","date_gmt":"2021-09-21T14:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=22837"},"modified":"2026-04-23T15:29:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T18:29:10","slug":"new-boracay-development-authority-approved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/new-boracay-development-authority-approved","title":{"rendered":"New Boracay Development Authority approved"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The House of Representatives has approved the creation of the Boracay Island Development Authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- The bill for the creation of a government-owned and controlled Boracay Island Development Authority (BIDA) has been approved on it final reading by the House of Representatives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BIDA will manage, develop, operate, preserve, and rehabilitate the Boracay Island Development Zone and will create a Boracay Action Plan for investment sustainability in the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill<\/a>\u00a0had been\u00a0highly criticised by government agencies<\/strong>, local government units, stakeholders and some congressmen who want to protect the island\u2019s environment. A\u00a0\u201cNo to Bida as GOCC\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0movement has been campaigning against the move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Business Mirror, Natividad Bernardino<\/strong>, chairman of the Boracay Inter-Agency Rehabilitation Management Group, said: \u201cThe problem of Boracay is one of over-tourism and overdevelopment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we need in terms of sustaining the rehabilitation and ecological sustainability of the island is a regulatory body instead of a GOCC<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said the island has already exceeded its carrying capacity <\/strong>for the environment and population, and that there is no more space for further investment and development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boracay casino plans facing mounting criticism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Catholic church\u2019s Diocese of Kalibo and the Boracay Foundation Inc (BFI) have joined residents against the project.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BFI, a non-stock, non-profit organisation that represents resorts, hotels, restaurants and other businesses in Boracay, has issued a statement saying the project should be relocated to the mainland town of Malay<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Diocese of Kalibo, through its Bishop Jose Corazon Tala-oc, said: \u201cBoracay is God\u2019s gift to Aklan and to the world. It has become a family destination<\/strong>, a venue for educational advancement and entrepreneurship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bishop also called on priests in Kalibo to form groups against the project <\/strong>to develop a gambling hub on the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte<\/a>, rekindled the possibility of allowing gambling in Boracay<\/strong>, noting that his country needs income to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duterte said: \u201cWe don\u2019t have money now. Where we can get money, I will get it. If it will be from gambling, so be it<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to The Inquirer, residents on Boracay<\/strong> believe the president should allow the development of casinos in other places<\/strong> but not in Boracay. They want authorities to focus on increasing the vaccination rate on the island to allow the return of foreign visitors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The House of Representatives has approved the creation of the Boracay Island Development Authority.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":22355,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Philippine House of Representatives has approved the creation of the Boracay Island Development Authority (BIDA), a government-owned and controlled corporation, despite significant opposition from environmental groups, local businesses, and the Catholic Church. Critics argue BIDA could exacerbate overdevelopment, particularly through the establishment of gambling hubs, on an island already exceeding its ecological carrying capacity. President Duterte has publicly supported leveraging gambling revenue for post-pandemic economic recovery, intensifying the debate over Boracay's future development strategy.","focusai_entities":"Boracay Island Development Authority (BIDA), House of Representatives, Boracay Inter-Agency Rehabilitation Management Group, Natividad Bernardino, Business Mirror, Catholic church\u2019s Diocese of Kalibo, Boracay Foundation Inc (BFI), Bishop Jose Corazon Tala-oc, Rodrigo Duterte, The Inquirer","focusai_location":"Philippines, Boracay Island, Kalibo, Malay","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.9), compliance_legal (0.8), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"BIDA's Regulatory Scope?","query":"How will the Boracay Island Development Authority's mandate as a GOCC impact its regulatory oversight capabilities compared to a dedicated gaming regulator, particularly concerning B2B\/B2C licensing and responsible gambling frameworks?"},{"label":"Investment Viability?","query":"Given the significant local opposition and environmental concerns, what are the projected timelines and capital expenditure requirements for establishing a viable gambling hub in Boracay, and what mitigation strategies are proposed for ESG risks?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,158,16333],"tags":[23632,23907],"class_list":["post-22837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regulation-news","category-slider-home","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-integrated-resorts","tag-land-based-casino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22837"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22854,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22837\/revisions\/22854"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}