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ABOUT

This is a personal blog of Gil delos Santos, a Boracay-based advocate, entrepreneur, tourism professional, and community leader with a deep commitment to sustainable development and local empowerment. With years of hands-on experience in the island’s tourism and business sectors plus two decades of professional hospitality experience abroad, Gil has dedicated efforts to uplift local voices and championing homegrown enterprises. 

He is the founder of the Small Players Association of Boracay (SPAB), a pioneering initiative that brought together the island’s Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) into a unified organization. Under his leadership, SPAB has become a vital platform for collaboration, resilience, and innovation among Boracay’s independent business owners.

Driven by passion for culture, community, and Filipino food heritage, Gil is a pioneer Slow Food Boracay Community member who founded GMarket, showcasing the flavors and craftsmanship of local producers. Whether through advocacy work, entrepreneurship, or grassroots organizing, his mission remains the same: to help build a more inclusive, community-led Boracay.

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WALKING THE IGBARAS CIRCUIT FOR 3-DAYS + 1

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Be free

Be free Self-betrayal is imprisoning ourself in the cells of envy believing that we are hell special to deserve the world's importance by seeking validation from recruited flying monkeys than be accountable to our misery brought by wrong decisions.  Be our own source of happiness. No one's responsible for it but ourselves. Give no scapegoats. No one is perfect but we can be perfect with intentions to let go and let be with no ssshht. Public proud appearances could  be a reverse happy projection by a sad inner self. Seeking validation is an abyss for an unreachable self discontent. Be truthful with our own truth and give no blame to others for our own missed target.  Rest restless souls. Don't let our silence speak misery. Hope we find peace in our quiet solace.
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Local's Perspective on The Proposed Boracay Bridge

By: Gil delos Santos WHAT HOPE IS LEFT FOR BORACAY? Boracay is its people. Boracay is its community. Boracay is its natural treasures. It's dark how the future of sustainability and community for Boracay look like. Let's be part of the light for hope.  THEN As a kid born and raised in Manocmanoc, the Manocmanoc Beach was our everyday playground. Great memories! The sense of ownership that we have for our playgrounds gives us the privilege of entitlement that we feel it is our home. It was a pride each time to warmly welcome visitors to share our space with them. NOW We feel strangers to our old playgrounds. We cannot access them anymore 40 years later. We have not imagined that it wasn't owned by the community. The provincial government installed a cargo port in the Western side of Manocmanoc Beach preventing the natural sand movements and we lost the sandbar that is being formed every habagat season — which we used to call "Recudo". Recudo is gone forever!!  We a...
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