Echoes From

BY JOHNNY DAYANG

Crossroads

Pagcor may have to share the blame for the recent public rally against a planned casino in Boracay, the world's fast-rising tourism hub, in Malay, Aklan.

Ostensibly, there's an utter lack of information that would help enlighten those vigorously opposed to the project as proposed by some business groups.

The private proponents can't be left on their own to tackle the monumental task of persuading those against the rise of casino on the island resort.

They need all the help they can muster and Pagcor can't just sit idly by, watching with indifference the pervading climate of mistrust among stakeholders.

Offhand, there's a need to strike a balance between the casino's morale implications as espoused by the Roman Catholic church and public interests.

For the dyed-in-the-wool moralists, a casino brings undesirable effects such as addiction to gambling leading to broken homes, crimes and other social and economic disorders.

For the pragmatists, however, there's a sense in allowing the putting up of a casino in Boracay, given the influx of hundreds of thousands of tourists, both foreign and local, flocking to its white sand beaches.

Annually, Boracay has been generating billions of pesos in revenues from the free-spending tourists. Boracay's pristine beauty has catapulted it to the elite ranks as one of the world's major tourism destinations, rivalling those in other countries.

While tourists continue to endlessly savor the island's hospitality, yet they can't find a fully-equipped and modern hospital that will cater to their medical needs in case of emergency.

Noticeably, there had been numerous cases of tourists falling ill while on a sojourn in Boracay. They either have to reckon with the island's lack of medical facilities or risk hours of flying to Manila depending on the availability of flights via Caticlan.

No doubt, Boracay finds itself at a critical crossroad - should it preserve its unspoiled beauty as clamored by Church-inspired moralists or temper it with humanist and practical social and economic dimensions?

Time is of the essence, given the prevailing "rat race" among the world's island resorts to build world-class amenities to woo tourists, who are increasingly becoming more discerning in their choice of destinations.

As a major foreign exchange earner, Boracay should not be made to wait for that ultimate decision

on whether to allow or not a casino to be put up there.