Being away from Boracay for so long, I was excited to see how it was after the government’s supposed rehabilitation on the island—whether or not it changed for the better.

Visualizing the beach before, all I only ever had negative memories of how it all looked like: green algae floating around the shore, trash around the vicinity, loud parties during the night time and food stalls and vendors scattered all over the area. Looking around, more stores were popping up—making the island a bit more gentrified than it was supposed to be.

Fast forward four years, the Boracay I had known before now looked different: When I finally saw the island, I was in complete awe of what it has become. No, it wasn’t anything like I remembered, it was the complete opposite.

After its rehabilitation

People crowded all over the beach, but to my surprise, there was no trash in sight—just the perfect scenery of the ideal beach. White sand, just how it was advertised to most tourists, people jogging from left to right, tourists taking pictures of and with the amazing view of the clean sea, even some people swimming and paddle boating in the water. It was almost scary how clean it all was just after six months of rehabilitation.

The flotilla of boats that would crowd the shores and block the scenic view is now gone—only a few remain. Most of them are kilometers away from the island, catering to tourists who were snorkeling, parasailing, and doing other activities.

There are little to no restaurants cluttered along the beach. Some food carts that serve residential street cuisine such as pork barbecue, hot dogs, isaw, and the ever famous chori burger are still around, but other than that no restaurants are allowed to serve their food on the beachfront. If tourists were to bring food on the beach, a security guard patrolling the area would remind them that it is strictly prohibited and they would have to finish their food before proceeding elsewhere to avoid having the tourists throw their trash on the ground.

The night life was completely different as well. Before, parties would be held in bars along the beach with loud music mercilessly booming. Now, it’s a lot quieter, more serene in a sense. Taking a stroll on the beach at night, I barely noticed anything happening along the beach front anymore. Even the famous White House bar where all the parties of the summer are held eventually died down into a more chill atmosphere. However, bars like Epic and Aplaya are still open to the public with the restriction of their music not being too loud and their customers not being able to take away anything containing plastic in them.

A once seemingly hopeless case that was once labeled as a cesspool, Boracay has been restored to its former glory. Despite the restrictions created, the nostalgic factor of the old Boracay tourists would long to see has come to resurface—a white sandy beach filled with people laying back and enjoying the place for what it is.

Photos by Joshua Lazaro