ON FEBRUARY 9, 2018 President Rodrigo R. Duterte came out with a statement that Boracay had become a “cesspool” and threatened to close the resort island unless its sewerage and garbage problems are properly addressed in six month’s time.
The President has no record of visiting the resort island since he assumed office in Malacañang, but his information must be quite accurate with the immediate reaction of concerned public officials to his statement.
As reported in our article of March 6, 2018, “Problems on the Award-Winning Island”, the reaction of government departments involved in the island resort operation is quite in panic. We refer to the Department of Tourism (DOT), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Led by DOT secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo as chair, they immediately met and adopted a program called “Oplan Save Boracay” to implement collective action on the environmental problems of the island resort.
Another move came from the local government unit or LGU of Malay that has jurisdiction on Boracay Island; it came up also with its six-month cleanup plan by stakeholders to be implemented jointly with a group of 1,000 business owners, expatriates, local residents and officials. They met on Feb. 27, 2018 at the Ecovillage Convention Center and approved the timetable for implementing the job.
Business groups like the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Boracay Foundation likewise pledged full support to the rehab plan.
Barely three days after President Duterte’s announcement or threat to close Boracay, DENR served notices to 51 establishments that were found to be violating the Clean Water Act of 2004, giving the parties two months to comply. But DENR secretary Roy Cimatu said 50 percent to 60 percent of the establishments in Boracay were compliant.
While the “rehab” work for the island is being implemented by both government and the private sector in full scale, a news report came out from Malacañang on March 5, 2018 that the President will now decide whether to keep Boracay open for tourists or, if not, he will accordingly announce when the closure will start. What happened to the six months timetable formerly given?
Secretary Cimatu was set to give his report to Mr. Duterte in the period of less than one month since the President’s directive on Boracay. He was quoted as stressing the point that “it was really impractical” to close the island to tourists immediately.
But on April 4, 2018 the President issued an order to close Boracay starting April 26 for a maximum period of six months, notwithstanding the ongoing rehab of the island being implemented by stakeholders.
Inquirer columnist Solita Collas-Monsod had a good comment on the issue: “In all these, we seem to forget of Cimatu’s own finding that 50-60 percent of the establishments in Boracay are compliant with the laws, etc. Then why are they being punished?”
It is also our opinion that the closure of Boracay when rehab is already ongoing is a very unwise decision. Some 17,735 employees and workers will be out of work, not to say of thousands of hotel, resort and airline reservations that will be cancelled even for establishments that follow the rules. Who will answer for the losses?
This is poor “aritmitik”!
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Historical Quote of the Week:
FEATI, the first commercial airline established in the Philippines after World War II, was organized by Ilonggos. (For comments or re-actions, please e-mail to jnoveracompany@yahoo.com)/PN
