“Hirap na hirap na kami.”

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[We are really suffering.]

Malay Mayor Ceciron Cawaling aired this sentiment on Monday when he faced a Senate hearing on the rehabilitation plan of the Duterte administration on Boracay Island.

Cawaling lamented that the closure of the island to tourism resulted not only in workers being displaced but also in student being unable to return to school.

“Ako, as mayor, nanahimik lang ako, but marami pong naapektuhan dito,” he said during the hearing, jointly held by the Senate Committee on Tourism and the Committee on Local Government.

[As mayor, I’m just keeping quiet, but this has affected so many people.]

“Yung sinasabi nilang nabibigyan ng tulong, hindi po lahat yan nabibigyan ng tulong,” he added.

[They say that people are being assisted, but not everyone is getting assistance.]

In a speech last February, President Rodrigo Duterte called Boracay a “cesspool.”

A few months later, he ordered the closure of the island for six months, from April 26 to October 26, this year.

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The mayor lamented that the administration lacked a plan before ordering the closure.

“Syempre magulo po tayo because wala tayong plano eh. Dapat plinano muna then close,” Cawaling said.

[We’re in disarray because we don’t have a plan. There should have been a plan before closing it.]

“Pero andyan na tayo. So magtutulong-tulong na lang tayo. Kaya nanahimik na talaga ako. Eh magulo kayo eh. So diyan na lang ako,” he said.

[But that’s already a done deed. So let’s just help each other. That’s why I’m just keeping quiet. You’re in disarray. So here I am.]

“And then I will support the program of the President because that’s for the rehabilitation of the island of Boracay,” he added. /atm

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