No casinos will operate in Boracay: DILG

October 26, 2018

No casinos will operate in rehabilitated Boracay which reopened Friday, said Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) officer-in-charge Eduardo Ano.

Ano said President Rodrigo Duterte instructed him to ensure that no casinos will function.

“The President gave specific instructions to me to ensure that no casino shall be operating, even the existing ones,” he said in a news briefing with other ranking government officials in Boracay.

Ano said they requested the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) cancel the existing permits granted to casinos in Boracay.

He said Pagcor chairperson Andrea Domingo issued on Oct. 22 a cease and desist order on the casino of Alpha Allied Holdings Limited in Movenpick resort.

“We can say to all of you that no casino is now existing in Boracay Island and we intend to implement that regulation continuously,” said Ano.

The Department of Justice has backed the policy of Duterte to prohibit  casino operations in Boracay.

In a legal opinion signed by Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, the DOJ said issuing an executive order directing Pagcor to cancel existing provisional licenses to casino firms planning to build hotels in Boracay is necessary.

Guevarra said an executive order is the “most expedient and effective” way to implement the “no casino” policy in Boracay.

“The State possesses police power to prohibit gambling in the Philippines or any part of it and this power was validly delegated by law to the Pagcor, a government corporation, which is subject to control by the President,” the DOJ said.

The DOJ said provisional licenses by Pagcor to casino operators are not contracts that bind the government.

The department issued the legal opinion last October 8 upon request by the  Department of Tourism. DMS