IT SEEMS Boracay is set to open once again as the country’s premier tourist destination come Oct. 26 this year. And the beaches look sparkling clean, the waters seemingly pristine once more from all indications.
President Rodrigo Duterte was right in closing down Boracay for six months to give the island a chance to breathe, clean up all that mess, the shit and sewage waters coming from the establishments literally flowing into the beach.
Well and good. It seems Boracay is on its way to retain its glory as one of the “Best Beaches in the World” and will no longer be the cesspool it almost turned out to be.
Of course, an environmental disaster of that magnitude was manmade born out basically from greed facilitated by corruption.
Naturally there are people responsible for this mess and they should be held accountable and be punished for their heinous crime against Mother Nature.
It is common sense that in any organization, government or otherwise, particularly local government units, the principle of “command responsibility” is the norm.
And where should the buck stop but with the highest government official of that particular local government unit or LGU?
Take the case of the cesspool a.k.a. Boracay; it is an island made up of three barangays under the jurisdiction of the municipality of Malay and in turn under the jurisdiction of the province of Aklan.
The government, particularly the Department of the Interior and Local Government or DILG, the agency responsible for sorting out and cleaning Boracay, has held accountable 17 local government officials for the mess in Boracay.
Charges were filed against these 17 local government officials before the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly being negligent in ensuring the world-famous Boracay Island’s sustainability, which resulted to environmental problems, among others.
DILG undersecretary Epimaco Densing accused them of failing to perform their functions under Republic Act (RA) 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991.
The DILG particularly charged Aklan governor Florencio Miraflores and Malay mayor Ciceron Cawaling of serious neglect of duty in ensuring the island’s sustainability.
The scenario in “Le Affair Boracay” is akin to a house wherein the toilet is overflowing with shit and messed up the whole neighbourhood.
Naturally, the head of the house and the one in charge of the toilet are responsible for the mess in the neighbourhood caused by the overflowing shit.
In this case, the head of the house or the Province of Aklan is Gov. Florencio Miraflores and the one in charge of the toilet or Malay is Mayor Ciceron Cawaling.
Simply put, it’s called “command responsibility”; the people elected them to take charge, they should take charge and accept responsibility whether good or bad.
Excerpts from the July issue of Panay News:
‘They need someone to blame’
Gov. Florencio Miraflores denied the accusations stated in a complaint filed against him and 16 other local officials in Aklan over Boracay’s environmental problems.
The governor was accused of negligence in ensuring the island resort’s sustainability.
Miraflores said he will prove his innocence before the Office of the Ombudsman, where Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) undersecretary Epimaco Densing III lodged the administrative and graft charges on June 27.
“We will answer the charges in proper time. I am confident the Ombudsman will afford us the opportunity to answer the accusations. It will undergo fair trial and due process,” Miraflores said in a radio interview last Thursday.
He added that “they have to blame somebody for the Boracay environmental issues…They think the Boracay closure would be ‘dramatic’ if local officials will be charged before the Ombudsman.”
Yes, Governor Miraflores, the government needed someone not only to blame but to accept responsibility and accountability for making Boracay a cesspool. And that someone happens to be you. As the highest local government official in the province of Aklan the “buck stops with you.”
There is nothing “dramatic” about holding local government officials of Aklan and Malay accountable for the environment disaster that happened in Boracay. In case you missed it, Boracay is an island with three barangays under the jurisdiction of the municipality of Malay that is in turn under the jurisdiction of the province of Aklan.
And who happens to be the governor of Aklan? Surely you’re not saying that we blame and hold accountable Gov. Art Defensor Sr. of Iloilo or perhaps Gov. Antonio del Rosario of Capiz for Boracay’s mess.
What is “dramatic” here is that the governor of Aklan is doing a “Noynoy Aquino”, you know, the classic “walang alam.”
Anybody who has been to Boracay is aware of sewage waters from the establishments flowing into the beach and into the waters, the proliferation of the green algae cause by organic waste or shit in the waters of Boracay.
It would be highly improbable that the governor of the province of Aklan is not aware of the degradation of Boracay’s environment.
Apathy, negligence, greed and corruption, perhaps all of the above, equals a cesspool a.k.a. Boracay. (brotherlouie16@gmail.com/PN)
