Nearly seven in 10 Filipinos believe a one-year closure of Boracay Island instead of only six months as the government targeted would result in complete rehabilitation of the world-famous tourist destination.

This was indicated clearly in a Social Weather Stations survey released on June 30 in which 64 percent of Filipinos agreed that a one-year respite from the daily trampling of tourist feet on the super fine sands of this island off Malay town in Aklan would do the place tons of environmental benefits.

According to the SWS, roughly four in 10 Pinoys or 38 percent strongly agree the island should remain closed beyond the original October reopening date this year and push that date forward another six months to April next year instead.

“Sixty-four percent say the closure would help rehabilitate the nature on the island. Sixty-one percent say the closure would help increase the number of tourists in the future,” the social research institution said.

This developed just days after Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu said efforts in rehabilitating the world-famous island were 60 percent complete and four months after President Duterte himself bluntly told Filipinos the waters of Boracay were a “cesspool.”

Also, only slightly fewer Filipinos or 61 percent said such a closure would help boost tourist arrivals down the line.

According to the SWS, those who believe in prospectively longer closure of the island were higher among those who support the state-supported recommendation to fend off tourists from its beaches beyond the original six months.

“The proportion of those who said the closure of Boracay would help rehabilitate the nature in the island was higher among those who agreed with the government’s recommendation to close the island (83 percent), compared to those who disagreed (30 percent) and those who were undecided about it (29 percent),” the research institution said.

“Likewise, the proportion of those who said the closure of Boracay would help increase the number of tourists in the future was higher among those who agreed with the government’s recommendation to close the island (79 percent), compared to those who disagreed (30 percent) and those who were undecided about it (29 percent), it added.

Support to Boracay Island’s longer-than-planned closure for rehabilitation purposes was highest among Metro Manilans at 71 percent, higher than that expressed by the rest of Luzon and Mindanao at only 64 percent and the Visayas at 61 percent.

“(The) proportion of those who said the Boracay closure would help increase the number of tourists in the future was highest in Metro Manila at 68 percent, followed by Mindanao at 61 percent, Visayas at 60 percent and Balance Luzon at 58 percent,” the SWS reported.

“Support to the government’s recommendation to close Boracay was stronger among those with much trust in Rodrigo Duterte, those satisfied with him as President and those satisfied with his administration as a whole.

“The proportion of those who said the closure of Boracay would help rehabilitate the nature on the island was higher among those with much trust in Duterte at 68 percent, compared to those with little trust in him at 58 percent and those who were undecided at 51 percent,” the SWS poll showed.