Sun sets on Boracay sans official closure order

MANILA, Philippines — Hours before Boracay is officially closed to tourists, the Palace has yet to issue a written order making it official.

The closure, which will see the world-famous island closed for rehabilitation for six months from April 26, has yet to be backed by a proclamation or an executive order, a document which presidential spokesperson Harry Roque has played down as a "formality."

But Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra says in a Philippine News Agency report, that the closure may have to be delayed pending an official order.

He said in a PNA report that the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council has recommended the proclamation of a state of calamity over the island, which would release emergency funds for rehabilitation and disaster response.

READ: Roque says absence of EO days before Boracay closure ‘no big deal’

"Until this presidential proclamation is signed, however, all intended actions on Boracay will have to temporarily be held in abeyance," PNA quotes Gueverra as saying.

He said in the report, however, that rehabilitation work can go on even without the order.

Despite the lack of an official order, petitioners have approached the Supreme Court for an injuction on the closure, saying the order violates their rights to travel and to due process.

Named as respondents are Duterte, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Interior and Local Government Officer-in-Charge Eduardo Año.

Roque said Wednesday afternoon that the Palace "[sees] absolutely no merit for any private party to restraint [sic] the closure of Boracay to tourists given that [the] SC itself has previously ruled that Boracay is owned primarily by the state."

He said the Palace sees "no reason how private persons can allege and prove irreparable injuries, a prerequisite for TRO, given that their stay in the island is by mere tolerance of the state."