The fight over Boracay’s future

It’s only been eight years. Honestly, do we really have that short of a memory?

In 2018, the national government shut down Boracay for six months. The island was choking on its own success. The carrying capacity had simply snapped under the weight of unrestricted access and overdevelopment. Now, look at what’s on the table. The government is fast-tracking a PHP 7.78 billion mega-bridge to funnel even more traffic straight into a fragile marine ecosystem. One that, ironically, still maintains a strict “no private car” policy.

It’s cognitive dissonance in poured concrete: rehabilitating the island on one hand, while paving a permanent highway straight to its shores on the other.

And who exactly is asking for this? Certainly not the locals. On April 30, all 17 mayors of Aklan unanimously opposed it through a formal resolution. The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry–Boracay pushed back, too. They’re demanding to see a comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment before anything moves forward. You’d think the Local Government Code’s mandate for “broader stakeholder consultations” would mean something. Instead, Imperial Manila treated it like a minor inconvenience. DPWH went ahead and issued the notice of award to San Miguel Holdings Corp. anyway.

The autonomy illusion here is staggering. The Palace claims local concerns will be heard, but the contract finalization is already underway. It turns out local autonomy is respected right up until a massive conglomerate wants to build something.

Then there’s the human cost of this so-called progress. SMC admits the bridge could displace at least 96 ferry workers. To soften the blow, the company is touting 678 promised jobs — mostly in temporary construction and facility operations. But let’s be real for a second. Transitioning an independent boat operator from the Caticlan-Boracay Transport Multi-Purpose Cooperative into a toll-booth attendant is no equal trade but an economic downgrade. These are families who have navigated those waters for generations. We don’t need vague corporate promises of “prioritized hiring” or capacity-building. This project demands a legally binding “Just Transition” plan for the people whose livelihoods are being paved over.

The most frustrating part is that a bridge solves a problem Boracay does not actually have. The ferries work fine. Accessibility is not the island’s fatal flaw. You know what is? The waste management system. The glaring healthcare deficits.

PCCI-Boracay hit the nail on the head. If we have billions in PPP investments ready to deploy, why are we building a 2.54-kilometer bridge? That money desperately needs to be redirected toward an eco-friendly port terminal, advanced solid waste facilities, and an island hospital that can actually handle major medical emergencies.

Nobody is opposed to progress. But fixing what isn’t broken — while blatantly ignoring the island’s actual bleeding wounds — is just reckless. If we ignore the hard lessons of 2018 and sideline the local voices begging Manila to reconsider, we aren’t developing Boracay. We’re just counting down to the next shutdown.