‘Entry to Boracay allowed before midnight on April 25’

(The caticlan jetty port seems a ghost town for now for the absence of tourists coming to Boracay-Julfe Rabe)

Tourists may still enter this world-famous island before it reaches midnight on April 25, according to a port official.

The Caticlan Jetty Port may still accommodate passengers off to Boracay at such time, said jetty port administrator Niven Maquirang.

This is a part of the draft that local authorities are crafting in relation to the island’s imminent closure, Maquirang added.

“When they arrive in Boracay on April 25, tourists may still be allowed to frolic around [during] their stay. However, once they leave Boracay by April 26, they will be prohibited coming back to Boracay,” he said.

The jetty port management estimates to lose around P300-million collection from terminal fees.

This will cause a cut in the revenues of the provincial government, prompting it consider laying off contractual workers at the provincial and district hospitals in Aklan.

“This (revenue loss) will certainly affect the health services in the province. [Health services] are being subsidized by the terminal fees collected from tourists,” Maquirang said.

He added that he “will also need to displace some 210 contractual employees in the jetty port.”

“The provincial government by May may impose a 22-day working period (weekends not counted) for all contractual employees both in the hospitals and in jetty port. Their contracts may expire by the end of June and we will then know until then what is going to happen next,” Maquirang said.