Boracay Scam deflection: “What Chinese casino?”

They don’t call him Pi-Roque-o for nothing.

Now that the rat is out of the bag, The Thug Regime is furiously pack-peddling and insisting that no Chinese-owned resort-casino is going into Boracay as the regime abruptly closes off the island due to “environmental concerns.”

This comes as the Thug-in-Chief makes a butt-snuggling pilgrimage to China.

The play here is obvious: Lie, obfuscate, deny, and distract.  Then, when the dust has settled and the media have moved on to the next big scandal, do what you planned to do all along.

It’s the same old story.

The only real question now is: Who else, specifically, will profit from the Boracay Scam?

 

Rappler busts The Thug on the Boracay Scam

“Okay, you caught me selling out to China and lying about it.  But I don’t give a shit.”

Using environmental concerns as a pretext, The Thug Regime is seizing control of the Boracay tourism cash cow so Chinese investors can milk it for themselves and share a little cream with the “right people.”

The Thug claimed he knew nothing about a new Chinese-bankrolled resort-casino that’s planned for the island.  Nobody with any sense believed him, but Rappler went the extra step and proved he was flat-out lying.

Yes, some political opportunists will use this controversy for their own purposes.  And yes, there’s already lots of illegal development, and over-development, on Boracay and it’s harming the environment.

But no, the Thug Regime has no real plan to rehabilitate the island to protect the environment, and there’s no new and imminent crisis that didn’t exist last year or ten years ago.

But there is a big new resort-casino that’s coming in, and there’s lots of money to be made and spread around.

And there’s a very pliable president in power, and he lies his ass off.

So what’s really going on with Boracay?

“What, me sell out to the Chinese?”

Now that The Thug has vowed to close Boracay Island for 6 months, it really is time to ask some obvious questions.

Like, just how does a president have the authority to unilaterally close down an entire island?  Yes, there are legitimate environmental concerns, but those are nothing new and there is no imminent crisis that demands an abrupt and immediate closure.  Nor is there any coherent plan in place to address the “environmental concerns.”

So just what powers are being invoked here?

And what’s the real motivation?  Did The Thug just wake up one day and decide to become a flaming environmentalist?

Or is this just an obvious ploy to drive the “rabble” out of Boracay,  sell it off to Chinese investors, and make it an exclusive playground for the elite?

What, exactly, does the closure mean?  Only residents will be allowed?  Does that include foreign residents?

Will the closure really be enforced equally?  Or will access still be allowed for the elite who will now have the island to themselves?

Will any real environmental protection actually be accomplished?

Or is that just a shallow pretext?

If Boracay’s environment is really so threatened, why did the government recently approve the development of a huge new resort-casino?

For possible clues to Boracay’s future, it’s instructive to look at Sihanoukville, Cambodia, which is rapidly becoming a Chinese playground — to the detriment of many residents and existing businesses.

One of The Thug’s most shameless propaganda toadies seems to have inadvertently tipped the hand of the play to come: Declare all Boracay land titles and leases null and void so that the current government can dole out new ones to friends, cronies, and ravenous pandas–all in the name of “upholding the rule of law,” no less.