ASIA / PACIFIC May 7, 2018 Workers head home, look for other jobs as Boracay closes By Joeal Calupitan The Associated Press B ORACAY, The Philippines — The cooks, hotel workers, and other Filipinos who served tourists at the country’s most popular beach headed home and started looking for other work in late April as police guarded the empty beach on the first day of a shutdown intended to allow Boracay’s waters to recover from overcrowding and development. Police on the empty, white-sand beach turned away tourists trying to take a dip in the turquoise waters, and once-busy stores and restaurants stood closed. “It’s painful for us to lose our jobs and it’s so sudden,” said canteen cook Marlon Laguna, 47, outside the closed beachfront restaurant. “Even though I don’t have my own family, I support my siblings. ... We cannot do anything but to accept it.” The island will be shut to visitors for up to six months while sewage containment and other work is done to clean up the waters President Rodrigo Duterte had called a cesspool. The work has already begun. Police and residents were collecting seaweed in a cleanup drive on the beachfront, pipes were being laid, and construction to widen the island’s main road had started. Some roadside structures were also being demolished to make way. Workers now out of jobs said they will look for other work to ride out the time the island is shut to tourists. 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Displaced workers flocked to the Department of Social welfare operation center to get travel allowances for them to go home to their provinces. “I am thankful that the govern- ment gave us a travel allowance, even if we do not have a job anymore,” said construction worker Jomar Incierto, 27, who was among those receiving the cash assistance. More than 2 million tourists visited Boracay last year, generating about 56 billion pesos (1 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue. But the influx, neglected infrastructure, and growth of resort establishments and poor settlements have threatened to turn Boracay into a “dead island” in less than a decade, according to a government study. Settlers who’ve built illegal structures in forests and wetlands have added to the problems. Less than half the establishments are connected to the island’s main sewage treatment plant, with many of the rest possibly maintaining crude septic tanks and others discharging their waste directly into the sea, said Frederick Alegre, assistant secretary at the Department of Tourism. Parts of the island could re-open earlier than six months if sewage treatment systems can be built faster and beach resorts comply with environmental regulations, he said. Call (503) 980-5900 for details GRASS-FED & GRASS-FINISHED BEEF Farm-raised in Newberg, Oregon Beef available as: q Quarter cow q Half cow q Whole cow Beef is processed by a Portland butcher. Pickup available in June at N.E. Sandy Blvd. location. Killingsworth Station Food Cart Pod Experience a collection of food carts featuring a variety of international flavors! Beer, wine & mimosas available Sweden’s king, Japan’s emperor mark 150 years of diplomacy TOKYO (AP) — Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Japan’s Emperor Akihito attended a special exhibit on Swedish natural sciences in Tokyo to mark 150 years of diplomacy between the countries. The king and Queen Silvia accompanied Akihito and Empress Michiko at the exhibit featuring three key Swedish scientists from the 18th century who have influenced Japan, including Carl Linnaeus, who set the basis of a systematic scientific classification. Akihito, a marine biologist specializing in gobies, was awarded an honorary degree in 2007 for his research from the university where Linnaeus studied. Japan’s NHK television said Akihito was fixated by Linnaeus’ original book of classification and stayed at the exhibit longer than planned. Television footage showed Akihito intensely looking at the book through a glass showcase, while a smiling Michiko stood by his side. 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Peppa Pig wins street cred, attracts censors in China Continued from page 4 merchandise not connected with the original brand. Xi, who strives to rally citizens around the idea of a “China Dream,” has emphasized in speeches the importance of young people’s contributions to the country’s “rejuvenation” following foreign incursions and civil war over the last 150 years. Despite such entreaties from the Communist Party, a number of internet subcultures fuelled largely by young Chinese — from despondent “sang” people to lackadaisical “Buddhist youths” — have resisted the president’s call to “roll up your sleeves and work harder.” Peppa Pig is not the first fictional creature to be targeted by China’s censors for political and sociological reasons. References to Winnie the Pooh were recently scrubbed from the internet after users began employing the cuddly bear as a proxy for the somewhat corpulent Xi when he engineered a move this year to remove presidential term limits from the constitution. Among the popular postings, Winnie was shown hugging a jar of honey alongside the quote, “find the thing you love and stick with it.” On her show, Peppa and her animal friends partake in mundane activities such as bike riding and swimming. But “society people” have co-opted innocuous lines from the program for their own satirical takes, such as playing lewd rap songs after a scene in which Peppa says: “I like this. It’s very grown-up.” The topic “‘Society Person’ Peppa Pig” has been viewed nearly 30 million times on Weibo, with fans sharing photos of themselves and Peppa paraphernalia along with the tag “society person.” Some users have juxtaposed images of Peppa with racy pop lyrics, or edited Peppa videos to include techno lighting. 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