BORACAY – The Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force (BIATF) is seeking a one-year extension of its term because the bill creating the Boracay Island Development Authority (BIDA) is still pending in Congress.
“We unanimously endorse the extension,” said Environment secretary and task force chair Roy Cimatu in a virtual press conference on March 18.
The BIATF was created by Executive Order (EO) 53 issued by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2018 with a term of two years. It was amended through EO 115 extending its term until April this year.
The document seeking another extension has been submitted to the Office of the President, Cimatu said.
Meantime, Cimatu said the task force stands by its proposal for the BIDA to serve as a regulatory body rather than a government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC).
“Whatever is the BIDA, it should be environment-oriented,” he said.
Aklan governor Florencio Miraflores thanked Cimatu for seeking the task force’s extension and “also for supporting our position that if there is a more permanent body to supervise operations to protect the island, that should only be a regulatory body.”
“We oppose the proposal that the authority should be a government-owned and controlled corporation,” the governor said.
As a GOCC, he added, BIDA will violate lots of provisions of the Constitution and the Local Government Code,
It would go against the thrust of the national government for more local autonomy, added Miraflores.
Cimatu said the rehabilitation of Boracay was not completed this year as per their target due to the pandemic and other disturbances in their time frame.
Among those needed to be done is the relocation of informal settlers occupying the timberlands. This was deferred as a “gesture of humanitarian consideration” due to the pandemic, and the transfer of workers in Boracay to the mainland to decongest the island and increase its carrying capacity.
However, the accomplishment for road projects was pegged at 70 percent while the compliance to the required beach easement was at 80 percent. (PNA/PN)
