“Given that its rehabilitation proved to be successful in restoring Boracay into the paradise that it was and remains to be, I’m sure tourists from all over will continue to marvel at its beauty.

I had the chance to visit Boracay for the first time since PRRD (President Rodrigo Roa Duterte) ordered its closure and clean up this long weekend. And boy, was it amazing!

This is coming from literally a son of Boracay. I was among the first to discover the island way back in 1988 when my current law partner and I went there by land as backpackers from Bacolod.

We stayed in a hut with no electricity and air-conditioning called Naro’s Place. And because we were students then, we subsisted on monay and Cheez Whiz. But the food and accommodations really did not matter. What was important was the powder white sand and the pristine blue waters of the ocean.

Thirty years later and after much political will to restore it to its former glory, Boracay is back to the paradise that it was. The algal bloom that became the downside to Boracay is absolutely gone.

The hotel chairs which effectively barred non-hotel guests from the beach are all gone. The people, the rightful owners to the most beautiful beach on earth, have reclaimed its world-famous sand as theirs.

And yes, the noisy parties and live bands that served as nuisances are things of the past. So are the stray dogs and the litter bugs with enforcement agencies effectively maintaining the cleanliness of the area.

Probably the most incredible achievement of government on the island was to get rid of all structures that encroached on the 30-meter public easement from the beach. I never thought that those permanent structures could one day be removed. But PRRD did what I thought was impossible. He literally caused those protruding structures to be literally sawed off. And my, was it a great accomplishment.

Even the roads now are much improved. They are now all made of concrete with their corresponding sidewalks. Gone too are structures that used to encroach on the road easement.

Truth to tell, like Sec Sonny Dominguez, I was skeptical about PRRD’s decision to completely close Boracay to the public. Having built my legal career catering to the resort owners of the island, I believed in Sec Sonny’s advice that the better mode was to partially close the island and do the rehabilitation phase by phase. He said, this was borne of his experience as a hotel owner that renovations are never done completely but in phases as it was difficult to recover lost patronage during a complete closure. From all indications, this did not happen to Boracay since it is still teeming with tourists, both local and foreign. And given that its rehabilitation proved to be successful in restoring Boracay into the paradise that it was and remains to be, I’m sure tourists from all over will continue to marvel at its beauty.

Thank you PRRD for restoring our tourism crown jewel!