Mayor, other Malay officials under probe over Boracay woes

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BY JUN AGUIRRE
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Wednesday, March 14, 2018
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BORACAY – Malay mayor Ceciron Cawaling was among the local officials who are under the investigation of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) regarding the environmental woes of this popular beach destination.

The DILG started the investigation last week, in relation to President Rodrigo Duterte’s instruction last month to rehabilitate the island within six months.

The agency wants to determine if there was negligence on the part of local government officials, leading to the environmental degradation of Boracay, which the President called a “cesspool.”

“We are waiting for the results of the ongoing probe. We are confident that the DILG would be fair in its judgment,” said Executive Assistant to the Mayor Rowen Aguirre. “The administration of Cawaling is only more than two years. Many of the problems being faced by Boracay developed before Cawaling’s term.”

Aguirre added that the local government is prepared for the results of the investigation.

Aside from Cawaling, officers at the Municipal Engineering Office and the zoning department were also under probe.

Zoning officer Alma Belejero earlier said several resorts in the island were not complying to zoning laws.

But the local zoning office lacks personnel to monitor all the developments in Boracay, Belejero lamented.

The DILG team, which is composed of 12 members, is also looking into the use of the P75 environmental fee in the island.

The fee is charged to foreign and local tourists visiting Boracay.

“Their investigation shall cover a period of 10 years, reckoning from the year 2008 up to 2018. I expect them to submit a comprehensive report on the result of their probe as soon as possible,” LG officer-in-charge Eduardo Año earlier said./PN
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