Roque proposes creation of Boracay Press Corps

April 23, 2018

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said on Monday that he pushed for the creation of a Boracay Press Corps during the six-month closure of the island resort.

In a press briefing, Roque said in last Friday's Cabinet meeting, he appealed to the interagency task force handling Boracay rehabilitation that media covering the island be treated as residents there.

"Well I can only confirm as of now that in the Cabinet meeting, I personally appealed to the interagency to reconsider the 9 (am) to 5 (pm) rule applied to members of the media to cover. I do agree that media does not sleep and of course although a comparison was made between Boracay and Marawi, I said there's no IED (improvised explosive device) in Boracay," he said, referring to Marawi siege last year.

"I think I persuaded the Cabinet that provided that there will be accreditation for a Boracay Press Corps, then they can issue media cards to accredited members of the Boracay Press Corps and they can be treated as residents in the island," he said.

But he said final decision  would still be made.

Roque said the formal declaration of a state of calamity in Boracay will be made before its closure on April 26.

Duterte has ordered Boracay's to rehabilitate the island after likening it to a cesspool.

The task force, composed of the representatives from the departments of Environment and Natural Resources, Interior and Local Government, and Tourism, has said during the closure, only residents of the island would be allowed to stay and they would be issued with identification cards. Celerina Monte/DMS