BORACAY Island, Aklan—To see is to believe.
This was the reaction of Boracay Foundation Inc. (BFI) President Nenette Aguirre-Graf after briefly meeting on Tuesday with ranking government officials, who committed to solve the drainage and infrastructure problems of the island. The government executives also promised to resolve the island’s congestion issue due to seeming overpopulation and overbuilding of commercial establishments and resorts.
In an interview with the BusinessMirror, Aguirre-Graf, who is also a town councilor of Malay, said: “It’s all promises and, kumbaga boyfriend, Boracay’s been jilted many times. But I’m still hoping they will be true to their word.”
At a news conference here on Tuesday, Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo announced a P1.2-billion project to solve the drainage problems of Boracay. Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu also promised to periodically inspect the waters around the island for contamination and take action against illegal loggers and settlers. (See “Decongestion, P1.16-B drainage project hoped to end Boracay woes,” in the BusinessMirror, January 10, 2018.)
Aguirre-Graf pointed out that “phase 1 of the drainage project took 10 years to build and is still unfinished. Now, the secretary is talking about P1.1 billion for the entire drainage system to be in place in two years?! Sige nga, tignan natin.
To see is to believe.” BFI has close to 200 members, including members of the Paraw, Windsurf and Kite School and Island Hopping Associations.
For her part, Elena Brugger, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI)-Boracay, said the island is better off being managed by a tourism authority instead of the local government. “We would like to have an implementing body to govern the tourism business here on the island…. We should have a tourism zone authority and learn from our mistakes so these do not be replicated in other islands. Also, it is in the national interest to develop an infrastructure and better transportation on the island or in the whole municipality of Malay.”
Last year over 2 million people visited Boracay. “It is a very small island,” Brugger stressed, “who is going to manage the needs of the businesses and the tourists, including the 30,000 to 40,000 residents, plus the immigrants, vendors, etc.? Can we leave this work, with such a magnitude in scope, to an LGU [local government units] or three barangays on the island?”
PCCI Boracay has 55 members, composed mostly of the big resorts on the island, such as Shangri-La Resort and Spa, Discovery Shores, Asya Premiere and Friday’s, among others.
During the news conference, lawyer Joy Bulauitan, assistant COO for the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza), assured that Stages 2 and 3 of Phase 2 of the drainage project in Boracay can be carried out simultaneously, with the target completion date being the second quarter of 2019. “Immediately after, we will start Stage 4,” she told the BusinessMirror separately. Stage 1 of Phase 2 was already awarded in December 2017, she said, adding that completion of these four stages under Phase 2 “will already solve flooding on the island.” Tieza is the infrastructure arm of the Department of Tourism.
She also clarified that, contrary to the Boracay stakeholders’ contention, Phase 1 of the drainage project had already been completed in 2014. Under a memorandum of agreement between Tieza and the Ayala-led Boracay Island Water Corp., along with the provincial government and Malay Mayor Ciceron Cawaling, Phase 1 is already being operated by the water firm.
Phase 1 of the Tieza drainage project covered the construction of the D’Mall pump station; the drainage- collection system; the access road and drainage line from Boracay Regency Road to Gallera de Boracay, the drainage canal going to emergency outfall along Red Coconut; replacement of all deteriorated steel gratings; and repair of all drainage outfall. Road 1A drainage outfall, Sewage Treatment Plant road-drainage outfall, Lagutan road-drainage outfall, Action Center drainage outfall and Bulabog road-drainage outfall.
Meanwhile, Aguirre-Graf pointed out, in the more than six hours the two Cabinet secretaries spent on the island, they met the industry stakeholders for “just 15 minutes.” She said the Cabinet secretaries spent more time meeting with other government officials, such as those from the municipal and local governments, instead of actually finding out directly from stakeholders what the issues were.
She added they suspect the meeting with stakeholders was done in preparation for a fourth Congressional inquiry into the island’s issues. “Our office received a call from Rep.
Lucy Torres-Gomez’s office that there is a tentative schedule for an inquiry on January 24. So, of course, these Cabinet secretaries will finally be able to say that they came here and spoke with the stakeholders. But they won’t say that our meeting took just 15 minutes,” Aguirre-Graf said in jest.
She noted that the Boracay stakeholders were already called to three congressional hearings, which the stakeholders attended even if held in Manila. “But these Cabinet secretaries never attended. They only sent their representatives,” she said. The last meeting was in September 2017.
The country’s tourism chief, meanwhile, warned Boracay-based businessmen their accreditation might just be canceled by the national government should they continue to disregard sanitary standards, which leads to the pollution of the world-renowned beach.
At the BusinessMirror Coffee Club Forum on Thursday, Teo said national and local agencies are now reviewing the sanitation of over 100 business establishments in Boracay. She said these businesses are up for assessment due to their reported lack of sanitation that contaminates the island.
“The accreditation [of these businesses], that we can cancel. However, as to the business permits of these establishments, that is up to the local government of Boracay,” she said.
Teo added she and Cimatu have already discussed the matter, much that the issue concerns the environment more than the tourism industry. Just like her, she said Cimatu also believes it is up to the local government to take measures against the violators because they have the police power.
“We will monitor them because this is a big issue, and we will not tolerate any violation to sanitary standards. I and Secretary Cimatu will definitely watch this closely,” Teo said.
With Elijah Felice E. Rosales
Image credits: Len4foto | Dreamstime