2018 Boracay closure and redevelopment for media coverage. On April 4, 2018, the Philippine government announced that Boracay would be closed for up to six months starting on April 26. Checkpoints manned by police officers and soldiers would be set up at piers in Boracay to turn away visitors from the island. Passes would be given to local residents. On the day of the closure, President Rodrigo Duterte declared a state of calamity over the three barangays of Boracay. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has distributed relief goods to residents of Boracay while the island is closed to tourists. In June 2018,
Boracay November 2013. However, it had to be rescheduled and relocated because of Typhoon Haiyan, with the ceremony eventually taking place at the Sofitel Plaza in Manila on January 17, 2014. The 32nd OCA General Assembly was to be held in conjunction with the games. The first settlers of Boracay were a Negrito people called the Ati, and who spoke a Visayan language called Inati. Later settlers brought other languages to the island, including Aklanon (as Boracay is part of Aklan province), Hiligaynon (Ilonggo), Kinaray-a, Capiznon, other Visayan languages, Filipino, and English. The well-known Ati-Atihan Festival takes place each January in