The Philippines' famous white-sand island of Boracay is drowning in faeces and may need to be shut down to protect the health of millions of visitors, President Rodrigo Duterte has warned. Boracay is a cesspool," Duterte told a business forum in his southern home city of Davao late Friday, according to an official transcript released by the presidential palace on Saturday. "There are certain areas there (where) ... some establishments have illegally tapped their sewage line into the water line," Alegre told AFP. Of the 150 Boracay business establishments recently inspected by the government, only 25 were connected to the sewer line, he said. Many establishments were also building too close to the beach and were even crowding into the roads of the 1,000-hectare island, Alegre added.

Source: Bangkok Post February 10, 2018 12:45 UTC