BORACAY Please; Not BORA!!!

While I was sharing my blog to a friend, she then corrected me and said that I should use the word BORACAY instead of BORA.  I did a little research and found out the locals of Boracay, Aklan are trying their best to inform everyone that the name of the island is Boracay and not Bora.

There is also another Island northwest of Tahiti which is called Bora Bora and that’s why the locals in Boracay don’t want their island to be confused  with that island. Bora Bora is also known as an international tourist destination. It is an island in the Leeward group of the Society Islands of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the Pacific Ocean.

I used google to search “Bora-Bora” and was amazed to see a beautiful island.  No wonder the locals don’t want to be associated with this island.  It’s actually a threat to them. Boracay is a billion peso tourism industry and they don’t want tourists go to Bora-Bora instead of Boracay!

I also heard that the  Sangguniang Bayan of Malay passed an ordinance banning the use of the word “Bora” in all promotional and advertisement materials.  Some said that the word Boracay is like the word Filipino. Changing Boracay to Bora is similar to changing Filipino to Flip which is a derogatory term for Filipinos in the US.

When I went to Boracay I often heard tourist call it Bora.  I guess the locals are actually not trying their best to help the government reach their goal of not calling the island in any other names.   I guess this is not just the responsibility of the government and the locals of Boracay Island but a responsibility of all Filipinos.  Boracay = Philippines. Therefore, we should also help them with their goals.

So, if you areplanning to go to Boracay, don’t forget:  NEVER call it BORA… CALL IT BORACAY!!!!