THE INEVITABLE has happened. The country’s premier tourist destination, Boracay will close shop less than a week from now or to be exact, six days. That’s Thursday, April 26.
It would be safe to say that the stakeholders – the islanders, hotel, resort and restaurant owners, employees of all the business establishments in the island – have slowly moved on. From shock, denial to finally accepting the inevitable and hoping for the best as soon as it has come to pass.
The stakeholders have no one to blame but themselves for what happened to Boracay. They allowed greed to almost kill the “goose that laid the golden egg.” Well, almost seriously injured but still alive and there’s still a chance to fix it.
For sure Mayor Ciceron Cawaling played a big part but if you really want to blame somebody big then you have to go further up and the buck stops with former President Noynoy Aquino.
In 2006, then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Proclamation No. 1064 classifying Boracay into forestland and agricultural land.
The 1,028-hectare island was classified into two areas: 400 hectares (40 percent) of Boracay forestlands were for “protection purposes” while the 628-hectare agricultural land (60 percent) was “alienable and disposable.”
In 2008, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the proclamation after some Boracay land claimants questioned the ruling, asserting ownership over their properties.
The High Court ruled the petition had no legal basis as no private entity can own land in Boracay.
“The island is State property,” it said, adding that for a land to be “alienable” or subject to private ownership, the state must declare it as such.
From the Manila Times April 5 column of Roberto Tiglao:
The main reason why businesses have rushed in the past decade to Boracay to establish resorts that have resulted in its environmental degradation is the fact that Aquino and Roxas had quietly told not only the island’s land claimants and Panay’s political and economic elite but also the business sector that they would ignore Arroyo’s proclamation and the Supreme Court decision upholding it.
When he assumed office, Aquino ordered his environment secretary, Ramon Paje, not to implement Arroyo’s proclamation, so that 11 years after it was issued, the cadastral survey that would have determined which are forest reserves and which are agricultural lands has not been undertaken. The Boracay and Panay elites were told of Aquino’s position, which accelerated the grabbing of lands in the island, as well as their sale to big resort owners.
Arroyo moved to save Boracay; Aquino made it a cesspool
It took a hick mayor from Mindanao with political will to say that Boracay is a cesspool and we need to clean it up. Just imagine if Mar “Daang Matuwid” Roxas won as President; the green-colored algae will probably turn black and the waters will be literally full of shit and colored brown.
But don’t fret people, it will only be six months and if done properly we will have a much cleaner and better Boracay. In the meantime, here are excerpts from the April 15 issue of Panay News:
Boracay closed? There’s Iloilo, Guimaras
Tourists who will be barred from Boracay Island, which will be closed off to visitors for six months for a much-needed rehabilitation, may head to this city and Guimaras.
The capital of Iloilo province and the nearby island province are getting ready to become alternative destinations when the closure of the world-famous beach starts on April 26.
Their respective local governments are drawing up plans – including new tour offers, improved visitor service and spruced-up sites – to attract Boracay-bound tourists.
Mayor Jose Espinosa III expects some tourists, especially those who booked accommodations in Boracay during the closure period, to troop to this city, Western Visayas’s regional center.
Over in Guimaras, Provincial Tourism Officer Liberty Ferrer said they have been meeting with resorts and lodging associations as they prepare for more tourists coming in.
“We are doing an inventory of rooms to determine our capacity to receive tourists for overnight visits,” she said, adding that they aim to make visitors “stay longer.”
Visitors may choose from seven “tourism circuits” – agri-eco, island hopping, sightseeing, biking, culture and heritage, research and education, and experiential tourism – said Ferrer.
Tourists will not miss Boracay when they visit Guimaras, Ferrer said.
Aside from its various destinations, guests of the island province will be assured of “peace and order and tranquillity,” she said.
Well and good but what happens if sewage waters in Guimaras are also dumped into the surrounding waters, are there sewage treatment plants or a sewage system in the island, can the island handle the influx of visitors and their waste.
Never mind the waters surrounding Iloilo City they have long been a cesspool, the much ballyhooed Iloilo River does seem clean on the surface and compared to the Pasig River it’s definitely cleaner but up to now the natives are still waiting for Senator Franklin Drilon to don his Speedos and take a dip as he boldly announced during the opening of the Esplanade 2.
Moi was in Guimaras a few weeks ago and the telltale signs are abundant i.e. floating garbage around wharfs, pipes with water discharging into the sea, garbage in the inland streams and along populated areas.
So keep it up and Guimaras will be the next Boracay…err cesspool. (brotherlouie16@gmail.com/PN)
