By TARA YAP
Iloilo City – Boracay will be dark tonight, with business groups operating in the area organizing a simultaneous switch-off of all lights therein by 8:08 p.m.
According to Nenette Aguirre-Graf, president of Boracay Foundation Inc. (BFI), the switch off is “symbolic of their unity” amid plans of a government shutdown.
The shutdown was recommended by the Department of Tourism (DoT), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to remedy what it described as “sewage mess” there.
A month prior, President Duterte himself warned he just might order the closure of the area if the sewage issue isn’t solved immediately.
Graf, who also serves as town councilor of Malay, added the switch off will also “show what will happen to Boracay if it will be closed down.”
Boracay stakeholders are calling on the national government to rethink its position citing how the closure could impact tourism negatively.
They even cited how, last year alone, Boracay tourism contributed P56 billion to the regional economy.