Originally Posted by ttep

I can probably help, Australian who has been posted here for 2yrs.

Boracay is a hole. It has become a bit like Patong with more Europeans and less brothels.

You want to go off the track a little, most of the good destinations are ~$100USD return from Manila.. Do you dive?

Would recommend Bohol first (airport is TAG)... white beaches, clean water, not too busy, and home to these little monkey rat things that live in trees. Horribly ugly but intriguing none the less.

Then check El Nido - flight is to PPS - one of those less discovered SEAsian places. Family & single friendly, pristine. Coron is another beach on that island.

Also worth a look is Dumagete (DGT). Couple of great hotels there on the beach.. 45min boat trip to the whale sharks that you can snorkel/dive with.. 30 min on a boat and you can swim with turtles at a nature sanctuary.
A little resort island just off DGT is called Siquijor. Also very nice.
Cebu the other big one, mactan is where you would stay there, however it's getting a bit overdone with high concentration of Koreans.

The islands are a couple of bright spots in this otherwise dismal country.