UPDATED - The Supreme Court (SC) was urged Wednesday, April 25, to stop the government's order to temporarily close Boracay Island to tourists, just a day before its enforcement.
As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, however, the government has yet to declare a state of calamity over the island and President Rodrigo Duterte has yet to issue an Executive Order ordering the closure of the island.
The Boracay Foundation, which groups more than 100 stakeholders, urged the government to expedite these documents, which would form the legal basis for the island's shutdown beginning April 26 and facilitate the release of funds and assistance to the thousands of stakeholders who will be affected.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, April 24, the foundation also called on clear guidelines on the closure.
"We humbly plead for the lives and families of direct and indirect workers who, up to this day, are clueless due to the absence of clear guidelines and sufficient support for their future. We only ask for things that have been promised," the foundation said.
The petition to stop the island's closure was filed by Mark Anthony Zabal and Thiting Estoso Jacosalem, Boracay residents who work as a sandcastle maker and as a driver, respectively, and Othon Bandiola, a tourist who occasionally goes to the island.
They were assisted by the National Union of People's Lawyers - Panay (NUPL-Panay).
In their petition, they said the government's order to close the island is violative of their right to travel and to due process.
"Petitioners have every right to continue to earn a living in the manner they so choose which, and depriving them of their livelihood violates such rights and creates untold hardships for them and their family," the petition read.
The petitioners also said that respondents President Rodrigo Duterte, Executive Secretary Salvador Meldialdea and Department of Interior and Local Government Officer-in-charge Eduardo Año have "no authority to impose travel restriction on the petitioner, or any other tourist or non-resident who wishes to enter Boracay island."
The closure of Boracay to all tourists for the rehabilitation of the said island will begin on April 26. It will last for six months.
According to NUPL-Panay, an estimated 36,000 workers engaged in tourism-related jobs will be directly affected by the impending closure.
The municipality of Malay, meanwhile, is expected to lose up to P400 million per month.
"The closure is too oppressive to all persons living and working in Boracay," NUPL-Panay president Angelo Karlo Guillen said.
"The Duterte administration can casually say that it will close Boracay for six months, but the sudden move also means that thousands of families will be deprived of income and go hungry. The measure des not take into account their plight. The closure of Boracay must be fair to all," he said. (VoxPop Philippines)