Philippines closes Boracay to tourists for six months

Volunteers combed near-empty beaches and workers boarded up shops on the island of Boracay on Thursday, as the Philippines' top tourist hotspot closed for a six-month makeover aimed at rescuing it from ruin.

For the first time in years, Boracay's most famous beach was almost deserted. Gone were the lines of umbrellas and sun loungers, as well as hordes of tourists and vendors, that characterised the explosive, unchecked growth of what was once a quiet paradise island.

Boracay was officially closed to visitors as of midnight Wednesday to undergo rehabilitation ordered three weeks ago by President Rodrigo Duterte, angered by a video he had seen of black sewage pouring out to sea at a Boracay beach.

Assault-rifle wielding police were posted at entry points to the once-pristine island that has become tainted by heavy commercialisation and over-development.

Regional police head Cesar Binag said the shutdown began past midnight, with tourists barred from boarding the ferry that is the main way onto the island.

"Boracay is officially closed to tourists. We are not closing establishments but tourists cannot enter. We are implementing the instruction of the president (Rodrigo Duterte)," Binag said.

About 600 policemen were deployed, with some performing life-like drills including riot officers battling bottle-hurling protesters and mock hostage taking of sunbathers — all before startled locals.

Journalist Ana Santos has more from Manila.

'...we are at war'

"It looks like we are at war," Jessica Gabay, a grocery seller, said late Wednesday. 

"Maybe the authorities are doing this to instill fear so people will follow the rules."

President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the shutdown this month after calling the resort a "cesspool", dirtied by tourism-related businesses dumping raw sewage directly into the ocean.

During the closure only residents with ID cards are allowed to board ferries to the tiny island that is home to around 40,000 people.

On Thursday morning, police began patrolling the beach to enforce a rule prohibiting swimming except in one designated area marked by buoys.

Boats are barred from sailing within three kilometres of the shoreline and only Boracay residents are allowed to fish in its waters.

The government said the heavy security presence was intended to squelch any unrest from those unhappy with the shutdown, including some of the roughly 30,000 people employed in the island's bustling tourist trade.

But resistance was light in the run-up to the closure, with no violent protests and most of the criticism focusing on the plight of laid-off staff.

The workers have been drawn by the relatively good wages on the island that has seen the number of visitors roughly quadruple to two million since 2006. 

'Unplanned and knee-jerk action'

Those tourists, a growing number of whom are Chinese and Korean, pumped roughly $1 billion in revenue into the Philippine economy last year.

But its growth from a sleepy backpacker hideaway into a mass-tourism hub with fast food outlets on the beach has taken a toll.

Unchecked construction has eaten away at the island's natural beauty, while slimy algae-filled waves in some areas and mountains of discarded drink bottles are problems acknowledged even by critics of the shutdown.

"I'm all for rehabilitation and preserving it but clearly this is not the way to do it," Philippine politics expert Ashley Acedillo told AFP.

He called the closure an "ill-thought through, unplanned and knee-jerk action" that did not take into account the economic impact on the island's workers and business community.

A long-overdue response?

The Philippines has pledged to use the closure to shore up the island's infrastructure, bulldoze illegal structures and clean up the mess left by years of unchecked growth.

For its part, the government has billed it as a long-overdue response to a problem that is not without precedent.

Other Southeast Asian tourism destinations have also cracked down on uncontrolled tourism welcomed by locals needing income and authorities eager for development.

Thailand's Maya Bay, made famous by the 2000 movie "The Beach" starring Leonardo DiCaprio, will be off limits for four months from June to September, officials announced last month, in a bid to save its ravaged coral reefs.