The heat index reached a record 55.8 degrees Celsius today in the Philippines - more than 132 degrees Fahrenheit - but that’s still icy compared to how the presidential race is heating up on the eve of national elections.
 
Only one day before Filipinos flock to the polls to vote for their next president and other leaders on Monday, May 9, the campaigning has included rock concerts, backroom dealings and shocking plot lines you’d expect on a soap opera, assassinations and bloodshed, and even the rare political debate.
 
But no matter who wins tomorrow when the polls close for this country of 100 million living on more than 7,000 islands, the Filipino elections certainly haven’t been boring. I wanted to highlight a few facts and observations about elections in the Philippines; especially since the U.S. election season is getting red hot!
 
To my Filipino friends, I do apologize if I got some of these details wrong, and I appreciate you clarifying or correcting me!

1. The president serves a 6-year term here and can only be elected to office without re-election.

2. Elections are always held the second Monday of May, and the winner takes office the following June 30.

3. They call political candidates “Bets,” though I can’t find out - why other than speculate it’s because Filipinos love gambling and the presidential race often resembles a cockfight!  

4. The current presidential election started with a record 130 Bets in 2015! But now we’re down to only 5 Bets: current Vice President Jejomar Binay, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Senator Grace Poe (adopted daughter of a famous Philippines movie star), and Manuel Roxas II

​5. But when a president’s term is up, power is not automatically handed over. In fact, if the current president, President Benigno Aquino III, steps down peacefully after a new head of state is elected tomorrow (he’s expected to), it would be the first time since 1998 that power has transitioned smoothly or without a coup.

6. The president is elected but the vice president is elected separately, not on a joint ticket like in the U.S

7. Women play a large part in Philippines politics and operate on equal footing as men. In fact, two of the five remaining presidential candidates are women, Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Grace Poe.

8. Corazon C. Aquino was the first female president of the Philippines in 1986, and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo served as president from 2001 to 2010.

9. Filipinos living and working abroad make up a huge and influential part of the constituency. There are approximately 2.3 million Filipino citizens working or living abroad in places like the U.S., Japan, Germany, Dubai, etc. – bringing in 1/10th of the country’s GDP.  About 500,000 additional Filipino men and women work at sea around the world, on commercial vessels, maritime fleets, and huge numbers in the U.S. Navy.

10. The leading candidate to be the next president is Rodrigo Duterte, former mayor of the city of Davao in the southern island group of Mindanao in the Philippines. He’s currently leading the polls with more than 32% voter support, compared to the next leading candidate, Senator Poe, at 24%,

11. Duterte is nicknamed “The Punisher” for his tight fisted control as mayor of Davao, cleaning up crime, political corruption, and making it one of the safest cities in the world.

12. While admirable and totally atypical here in the Philippines, he’s also fallen under criticism for his totalitarian policies, and there are even allegations of police or military as unsanctioned enforcers or even Death Squads operating outside the rule of law under his reign.

13. In fact, the Davao strongman mayor has been condemned by Amnesty International for human rights violations, including an investigation of 700 suspicious deaths.

14. If elected, Duterte he would be the first ever president from Mindanao – important because it’s far from the stale political establishment in the capital, Manila.

15. But of course in perfect irony, the anti-corruption candidate has been recently immersed in scandal, accused of not declaring a mere $51 million in assets held in a joint bank account with his daughter when filled out his financial and asset disclosures in 2014. (Oops.)

16. But those charges, leveled by a rival Senator running for Vice President, have to be taken with a grain of salt, not because they are probably untrue, but that Filipino politics seems like a constant volley of corruption and embezzlement charges between candidates. If history is any guide, they are probably all correct, so at least it’s a level playing field.

17. Remarkably, Duterte is somehow a combination of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders:

​18. He’s capitalized on the average citizen’s discontent over the political system that is big on corruption, graft, and cronyism but does little to help the large number of poor people, improve infrastructure, or do much to improve the country. But critics point out to the fact that he has no national political experience, and being a dictatorial mayor of a city is far different than running a whole country. 

19. Duterte has also expressed that he’d like to sever ties and gain autonomy from the U.S. and Australia, an extremely controversial stance that highlights his lack of foreign policy experience, but also his hardline nationalism.

20. But he’s also a political outsider – which is attractive to many people in the country who want to shake things up and take power from the "trapos"—short for “traditional politicians.” They see a small number of wealthy and ultra-powerful families gaining all the power, influence, and riches in the country over and over, no matter who has been president. (Sound a little like the U.S., Bush and Clinton families?)

21. While Duterte’s unapologetic personality has gained him popular support in certain regions, he also has plenty of enemies. Just like Trump, he’s not even unilaterally supported in his own party, and there have been calls for two of the other presidential candidates, Manuel Roxas and Sen. Grace Poe, to somehow unify their campaigns, with one of them dropping out and lending their support to the other in a sacrificial move to block a Duterte win.

22. Duterte is also Trump-esque with his propensity for divisive, inflammatory, and shockingly misogynistic speech. During a speech he once “joked” that he “should have been first” in the 1989 gang rape of an Australian missionary. Duterte called his own daughter “a drama queen” when she came out with the admission that she had been raped, and he said he’d “kill” his own children if they ever used drugs. He’s such a mirror image of Trump that he’s even bragged about his penis in public meetings with business leaders.

23. I’ve been extremely impressed how politically active and dedicated the average person is here. Despite the widespread corruption and poverty, it’s obvious they still see the process of choosing their next leader as a great privilege; maybe because Filipinos were constitutionally guaranteed the right to vote in 1981. The whole country literally stops during the election and many people return to their far-off home provinces to vote in their local elections, with bus stations, highways, airports, and boat stations brimming with people.

24. Most places in the country stop selling and serving alcohol for 24-48 hours around the election as an attempt to curb rioting and political violence, a common policy in most developing countries I’ve visited.

25. There are political posters and advertisements EVERYWHERE, as if a victory is not assured for the candidate who wins the most votes, but who can plaster their likeness the most times on every available surface.

26. These signs are so prevalent that the local joke is if a Filipino stands still during the election season, they’re likely to get covered by political posters. The ads on every wall, light pole, tree, car, building, and house aren’t just for the presidential race but for senators, mayors, vice-mayors, assemblymen, and ever political seat imaginable down to the smallest Barangay (neighborhood), resulting in 4/5 of the country covered in political ads.

​27. If that’s not colorful enough, they have trucks rolling through the streets blaring political messages (in between pop songs) at ear-splitting levels, rock concerts to promote candidates, TV, movie, and singing stars lending their support to candidates, and plenty of parades and other public gatherings. Basically, everything BUT talk about actual politics to gain votes!

28. Elections are usually marred by bloodshed in the Philippines, and this year is no different. The front page of this morning’s newspaper documented how a Filipino mayoral bet was just assassinated a day earlier, shot in the back and left for dead in his home. Unfortunately, he’s not alone, as a candidate running for mayor in Maguindanao barely survived a bomb attack, and in April, gunmen ambushed a man running for governor as he walked out of his hotel. 

29. In fact, 145 people were killed by politically related violence in the previous election three years alone. Assassination attempts are such a regular part of politics in the Philippines that it’s common knowledge that $450 is the going rate to arrange for a motorcycle drive-by shooting. 

30. The current state of violence in politics is still relatively mild compared to Philippines history, including when renegade soldiers took over Manila’s five-star Peninsula Hotel in 2007 in a post-election coup attempt, broken up with the help of a government tank that rolled right into the hotel lobby. 

31. Boxing superstar and national son Manny Pacquiao is running for a Senate seat after dabbing in politics as a two-term Congressman (one which he won unopposed.) He is leading in the polls despite the fact that he apparently did little work or even attended regular policy sessions when he in office. 

32. Pacquiao’s appointment to the Senate is likely, but not at all guaranteed after he went on record with ugly anti-homosexual statements, saying they were “worse than animals.” Those remarks led to a 10-point dip in the polls and also being dropped by sponsor Nike. 

33. Some of the dirty campaign tactics have including releasing fake psychiatric reports about candidates, attacking family members, questioning the validity of Filipino citizenship (Ted Cruz?) and even having children repeat filthy and curse-laden political diatribes by Duterte in TV ads. 

34. While these loud mobile campaign stations (nicknamed “wang-wang”) on trucks are ubiquitous in the city streets, they are not legal. In fact, President Aquino instituted a “No wang-wang” policy (Presidential Decree No. 96) that regulates the use of sirens, bells, whistles, horns and other similar devices only to motor vehicles. 

35. He wasn’t necessarily trying to outlaw the ear-splitting noise pollution, but didn’t want these vehicles to add to the already standstill Manila traffic. According to the decree, violators can have their “wang-wang” vehicles confiscated. 

​-Norm  :-)
 
 
 

Living over here in southeast Asia, I see and experience some wild stuff on a daily basis, but when I opened my local newspaper here in Cebu, The Philippines this morning, I had to do not just a double take but a triple take at one of the news stories. 
 
It read: "Indonesian villagers mistook sex toy for angel."
 
I looked around for an Onion byline or hidden cameras, but realizing this was a legitimate real life event, I couldn’t help but read on.
 
To summarize so you don’t have to strain your eyes, here’s what happened:
 
When a "beautiful doll” washed up on the shores of a remote Indonesian fishing village, the villagers thought they been “blessed by an angel” that fell from heaven.

In fact, the fisherman that found the doll, named only Pardin, thought the doll must be a celestial blessing since it was found the day after a solar eclipse, which is a spiritual event in the religion and culture.
 
So Pardin took “the partially-inflated doll” home to his village, where the others treated it with great reverence. The “angel” was given a fresh set of clothes from his mother, including new Muslim headscarf, and the proud family brought it with them everywhere, propping the sacred icon up in a chair and their boat.
 
The news spread like wildfire (just as when the image of Jesus is discovered on a piece of toast), and the legend of the fallen angel grew, such as a description that she was shedding real tears when found. Soon, the story reached the nearest police, who were worried about unrest or problems over the divine doll.
 
But when detectives made the trip to the village to investigate the doll, they immediately recognized it as a blow up sex doll.

Let me say that again so there's no confusion:: the angel was actually a blow up sex doll. 
 
Apparently, the island village was so isolated that they never even had Internet so had no idea what a blow up sex doll was. Needless to say, they were left “deflated and unsatisfied” (my words) when the police confiscated the doll, saying they need to fend off 
 
Best headline and news story ever? That one is hard to beat! ​

-Norm :-)

1. Boracay is a small island in the central Philippines, a country comprised of 7,107 islands. It’s the most popular island and tourist destination in the Philippines with 1.5 million visitors every year. 

2. Boracay sites at 30 degrees latitude and 121 degrees longitude in the Sibuyan Sea, approximately 196 miles (315 kilometers) south of the Philippine’s capital, Manila and less than 1.25 miles (2 kilometers) from the northwest tip of Panay Island in the Western Visayas region. 

3. The island encompasses a total landmass of only 3.98 square miles (10.32 square kilometers), about 4.3 miles (7 kilometers) long and roughly in the shape of a dog bone, less than a kilometer wide at its narrow middle. 

4. The Northern and Southern areas of Boracay are more hilly, the highest points reaching about 300 feet (100 meters) above sea level. 

​5. Boracay has been highly celebrated in the international media as one of the best islands and having one of the best beaches in the world, including by Travel + Leisure Magazine, CNN, the New York Times Travel, and many others. 

6. Speaking of beaches, the most famous beach in Boracay – and one of top in the world – is White Beach, a 2.5-mile (4 kilometer) span of uninterrupted white sugary sand that stretches along the western curve of the island, protected from most winds so the turquoise water is usually glassy calm.

7. A sand footpath runs about 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) parallel to the center of White Beach, which is the main In the center of the beach area, only a few meters separated from the beach by groves of pam trees. Most tourists walk up and down this path to the wide array of beachfront hotels, cafes, shops, restaurants, and bars, often times barefoot their entire trip!

8. Starting with White Beach and extending inland, Boracay is loosely divided into Boat Stations, or just commonly referred to as Station 3, Station 2, and Station 1. Station 3 is the oldest and first inhabited tourism area in the 1990s, Station 2 is home to plenty of hotels, bars, clubs, and the outdoor D-Mall, and Station 1 promotes itself with the mantra, “It’s more fun in Station 1,” (though that hasn’t been officially confirmed.)

9. But centuries before it was a popular tourism destination, the island was home to about 100 indigenous Ati people, who spoke a Visayan language called Inati. They fished, grew rice, corn, and coconuts, and grazed a few goats, living harmoniously off the land in small communities. Later in the 20th century, the locals would fill up cans of puka shells that washed up in abundance of their north shore and sell them by the barrel full to jewelry makers from the cities.

10. The island was first witnessed by Westerners in the 16th century when Spanish explorers came to the Philippines. (The Philippines gained their independence from the Spanish in 1898 when the U.S. intervened.)

11. Where does the name Boracay come from? There are numerous theories, all with good credentials, but none proven as far as I could gather. One popular theory is that name comes from the local Ati word “borac” which translated to “white cotton,” a tribute to perfect white powdery sand on the island’s beaches. Another references the local word ‘bora’ which means bubbles and ‘bocay’ for white.   
 
But when I asked Hayden Fernando, a local who grew up on the island and is now one of Boracay’s , told me that the name comes from ‘Bora,’ which means ‘fine’ in the island dialect, while ‘Bocay,’ the Tagolog (Filipino language) term for a white chicken, or something that is deemed special or rare – like the beauty of the island and its beaches.

12. Around 1900, Filipinos Lamberto Hontiveros Tirol, a judge from neighboring Panay Island, and his wife, Sofia Gonzales Tirol, gained ownership of a significant portion of the island, where they planted coconuts trees, fruit trees, and other crops.

13. The average U.S. tourist didn’t get acquainted with Boracay until the 1970s after the movie Too Late the Hero, which starred Michael Cain and Henry Fonda, was filmed there.

​14. But Boracay was a treasure among Hollywood’s movie stars and wealthy celebrities before that. When Philippines President Imelda Marcos attended the World Fair in New York City, she met and befriended the famous starlet Elizabeth Taylor and gave her a bracelet of puka shells from Boracay as a gift. Taylor was so taken by the beauty of the shells that she asked Marcos where they were from. Marcos told her they were from a small remote island in her home country called Boracay that was known for its beauty and beaches, and that she just had to visit some time. Elizabeth Taylor did visit Boracay not long after, and it soon became an idyllic hideaway vacation spot for Hollywood’s elite.

15. By the 1980s, Boracay was a secret pleasure for intrepid European and Australian budget backpackers, first promoted in print by German backpacker Peter Jens who turned his wanderlust into the famous Lonely Planet travel guide series. The 1990s saw a huge jump in tourism, as Boracay became a must-see destination after its beaches were named some of the best in the world. 

16. While White Beach is gorgeous anywhere you set foot, the grains of sand are noticeably bigger on one end of the island by Station 3, and much finer and smoother by the time you get to Station 1. A local lifeguard told me that an undersea natural channel runs roughly parallel to the beach. As the silt and sand is pushed through the channel by the currents, the heavier and larger pieces sink into the channel and are washed up to the beach closer to Station 3, while the lighter granules stay in the water all the way to Station 1 before being deposited on the beach. 
​
They also say that Boracay’s beaches are so magnificent because most sand is actually finely pulverized stone and volcanic rock, but the island’s sand comes mostly from finely crushed up shells from the nearby coral reefs.
 
17. These days, the island has about 26,000 permanent or long-time inhabitants. Many more come over from the neighboring island every day just for work, commuting over on small ferryboats. 

18. It’s estimated that there are nearly 500 hotels, resorts, and guesthouses on Boracay, with about 2,500 rooms that range from 5-star luxury to simple beach bungalows. 

19. But White Beach isn’t the only sandy strip in town, as Boracay also features Puka Beach (known for it’s chilled—out vibe and less crowds), incredibly scenic Diniwid - only accessible by the sea on a path that weaves around, and sometimes through, rock outcroppings, south-facing Cagban Beach where the jetty port sits, and Bulabong Beach. 

20. Bulabong Beach hugs the eastern shore of Boracay, unprotected from the sea winds and home to the island’s thriving windsurfing and kite boarding activities. 

21. To get to Boracay, you need to find your way to Caticlan – a small town on the island across the channel from Boracay. From the port there, small native outrigger boats called “bancas” come and go all day long, transporting hundreds of tourists, workers, and all of the commercial goods for the island. 

22. Luckily, Caticlan has it’s own adorable island airstrip, the Godofredo P. Ramos Airport, which is walking distance or a short trike ride to its ferry port. (Ironically, Caticlan’s airport code is MPH.) Although it’s the most convenient way to access Boracay, flights in and out of Caticlan are often limited to bigger routes like from Manila and Cebu. 

23. The flight from Manila is only about 1 hour 10 minutes, and it takes only 35 minutes to get to the city of Cebu. 

24. Many of the international airfare websites don’t list local Philippines airlines, so go directly to the websites for Cebu Pacific, SEAir, Asian Spirit, Philippine Airline and Interisland to book tickets. You’ll find tickets are very reasonably priced but you’ll pay a premium for extra or over-sized luggage since the aircraft are often small prop planes with limited cargo capacity. 

25. Since nothing is simple when traveling in the Philippines, at the ferry terminal, visitors have to pay a Terminal Fee, Environmental Fee, and Boat Fare Fee. While these aren’t expensive, they make you stand in three separate lines at three separate but adjacent counters, though all are required! 

26. Many people fly into larger Kalibo airport (code: KLO), about a two-hour van ride shuttle ride south of Caticlan. 

27. You’ll hear a melting pot of languages and dialects on Boracay, often including Aklanon (from Aklan province), Hiligaynon, Kinaray-a, Tagalog, Filipino, Chinese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Italian, French and English. 

28. Boracay even has a pleasant and warm Caribbean island feel, with plenty of reggae music and local bands doing spirited renditions of popular Jamaican songs. In fact, Boracay even has its own famous song by Ferns Tosco, I Want to Go Back to the Island of Boracay, as well as no less than thirteen other songs written about it!

29. Popular activities in Boracay include paddle-boarding, scuba diving, helmet diving, snorkeling, windsurfing, kiteboarding, fly boarding, cliff diving, parasailing, zip lining, riding go-carts, golf or just lounging on the beach! 

30. Believe it or not, the diminutive island has it’s own golf course, an 18-hole par 72 course designed by Graham Marsh 

31. If you want to exercise during your vacation to Boracay (other than running on the beach and swimming in the ocean!), there are a few gyms to check out. A couple of the nice hotels have fitness centers where you can pay a day or weekly/monthly rate, but they can get expensive. Or you can try the local King Fisher Gym, which is cheap and friendly but definitely nothing fancy! The island also has a cool cross fit gym right on the water in Station 1 and a budding mixed marital arts scene at Legacy MMA in Diniwid. 

32. About half way between Station 2 and Station 1 on White Beach you’ll notice a unique natural rock formation only a few yards off the shore in the shallow water called Willy's Rock. It’s a Boracay icon and probably the most photographed (and selfied!) landmark on Boracay. 

33. Weather in Boracay follows the typical tropical seasons of rainy and dry, called the Amihan (cool northeast wind with moderate temps and no sparse rainfall) and Habagat (southwest monsoon winds and hot, humid weather with heavy rainfall) seasons locally. The Amihan season is usually from mid October to June, and the Habagat season the remainder. The seasons can switch so abruptly that the winds literally shift overnight. 

​34. Temperatures on Boracay average about Daytime temperatures on Boracay range about 77–90 °F (25–32 °C) from the beginning of the Amihan season into February or March, but increase to 82–100 °F (28–38 °C) in Habagat season, with higher humidity.

35. Other than walking the beachside path, most people get around on the island on Philippine tricycles – also called trikes – which are motorcycles with sidecars. Trikes are even the main method for transporting goods among locals. Motos are common, too, but I’ve heard they’re prohibited from acting as taxis for tourists, though you can often catch a ride on one, anyways.

36. Electricity on Boracay is 220 Volts AC and can take Type A American plugs, but not three-pronged plugs or 100/100 V appliances like hairdryers. They sell converters at many shops but check your laptop before you plug it in and I recommend getting a surge protector. The electricity has been known to go on and off especially during storms, and many big hotels and businesses have backup generators.

37. Their currency is the Philippine Peso, and US dollars aren’t commonly accepted. But there are plenty of ATM machines that take international cards and moneychangers are ubiquitous. When the weather is bad and boats can’t make the crossing to the island or the electricity or communications are out, it’s not unheard of for ATMs to be down or out of money. A new system called BoraPay allows members to pay for virtually everything with the swipe of a digitally implanted bracelet so they don’t have to carry cash.

38. These days, a good number of bigger hotels, resorts, and restaurants take credit cards, though you’ll need Pesos at most smaller and local establishments, and you may be charged an additional credit card processing fee.

39. Linguistically lazy tourists sometimes call Boracay “Bora,” which irks natives and long time residents since there is no basis for the abbreviation and it confused the island with Bora Bora.

40. Essential words you need to learn for your Boracay vacation include Mabuhay (a greeting that means ‘welcome’, or ‘to life’), Kamusta (how are you?), Salamat (thank you) and Tagay (cheers.) More

41. Internet access can be challenging at best on Boracay, and often times nearly unusable. Your best bet is to get a local SIM card with national carriers Globe or SMART (I prefer GLOBE) and then access Internet on your phone or device. Almost every hotel and most restaurants and bars have Wi-Fi, the problem is that they just rarely work. 

For those of you who need to get some work done while you’re on the island (including writing blog posts with Boracay facts!) there are a couple local Internet cafes that sometimes work, and one hidden treasure of a Wi-Fi connection that I’ve found works like a charm! Drop me an email and I’ll be happy to share that secret spot with you.

42.In the west, we say “Check please” and signal by scribbling a mock signature in the air. On Boracay, they say, “Bill please” and outline a rectangular piece of paper in the air. They also usually say, “I receive X amount of Pesos,” when you hand them money, and have a charming habit of calling foreigners “sir” and “mam” or “boss” to be a little more familiar. But if you listen closely, you’ll hear locals call each other “kuya” or “ate” as a casual reference to male or female friends.

43. Boracay is extra busy on holidays with locals coming in from Manila, and hosts plenty of special events. The Dragon Boat Races are a huge and colorful sporting festival every late April or early May, and the Asian Windsurfing Tour, International Fun Boarding Competition, plenty of beach runs and half marathons, and Open Asian Beach Ultimate Frisbee Tournament are also popular. Concerts, conferences, and special events are always imported to Boracay, and Laboracay brings a insanely crowded, bonkers, spring break-like atmosphere to the island on the Philippine’s Labor Day the first weekend in May.

44. Boracay is starting to face a huge conservation problem, as its beaches are being eroded by throngs of tourists and increasing commercialism. While White Sand Beach used to be spotless and immaculate, over the last few years more and more trash is accumulating. PLEASE DON’T LITTER on Boracay – or anywhere else for that matter. Also, you should know that it’s illegal to remove sand, pebbles, or seashells from any of the island’s beaches, per Municipal Ordinance 310. Smoking is also banned on Boracay’s White Beach though far too many people do it anyway and leave their butts in the sand. 

45. You’ll still see indigenous Ati on the island, but tragically, most tourists only see them sitting by the beach path and begging. It’s a shame that the island once belonged to them but they’re now reduced to begging. Even though your good intentions may motivate you to hand them some money to help, it’s important to realize that nearly all of these women and children are put out there by gangs, or adults who might be drinking up your money - or worse. So if you want to help, it’s far better to donate to one of the legitimate organizations that effort to improve the education, healthcare, job skills and better the lives of Ati people. 

46. On November 8, 2013, Typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) slammed into the Philippines, killing tens of thousands and burying parts of coastal whole cities in water. With wind gusts up to 278 km/h (235 mph) and 10 meter (30 foot) sea swells, it was considered the strongest typhoon in recorded history ever to make landfall. Yolanda was heading right for the isolated and unprotected island of Boracay, too. 

47. I happened to be living on Boracay for a few months that fall. I tried to evacuate to neighboring Patay along with thousands of other stranded tourists and locals, but we were turned away since the Coast Guard shut down all boat traffic off the island 48 hours before the typhoon. Luckily, the heart of the typhoon blew just south of Boracay, so the island was spared the horrors that devastated Leyte, Samara, and Tacloban. I took some video and wrote blogs about the typhoon, that were picked up by international media. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcCigrywbNQ 
While there were no official media accounts of fatalities on the island from Yolanda, those of us on the island knew that at least several people were killed by the typhoon and in its aftermath. However, the local government censored any reports of deaths or even injuries, afraid that the truth might scare off some travelers and hurt the inflow of tourism dollars.
 
48. Boracay is portioned into three “barangays,” or neighborhoods: Manoc-Manoc, Balabag, and Yapak. Even though it is an autonomous, Boracay is administered by the provincial government of neighboring Aklan province, and also governed by the Philippine Tourism Authority. 

49. The infrastructure on Boracay is limited, but still more impressive than you might guess. In fact, there is a simple hospital on the island, several private clinics, pharmacies, schools, police stations, an Army outpost, Air Force reserve station, a Coast Guard station, a lifeguard command center at Station 2, water treatment systems, two ice factories, a local radio station called Radio Borcay (106.1FM), radio and 2 cell towers, a Lions Club, a Rotary Club. 3 Baptist churches, 6 Catholic churches, 1 Jehovah’s Witness church, 3 churches of the popular Iglesia de Cristo, and even a mosque on the island. 

50. Boracay does have a great squadron of dedicated lifeguards that patrol the beaches and keep people safe, sponsored and trained by the Red Cross. If you’re not a strong swimmer or for children, it’s recommended you swim only between the big red and yellow flags that are placed on the beach, or near a lifeguard tower. ​

​***

If you need help with travel arrangements or hotel bookings on Boracay, feel free to contact the aforementioned official tour guide, Hayden Fernando.
 
And definitely drop me an email if you have any questions about your vacation to Boracay or the Philippines! 

​Enjoy! 

-Norm  :-)