THE management of Boracay West Cove Resort said it has hewed closely to environmental laws, with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) even issuing it a certificate of disposal of hazardous waste.
In a letter sent to the BusinessMirror dated February 5, 2018, lawyer Florante C. Roxas of Roxas & Roxas, a law office retained by the resort, said: “We categorically deny that Boracay West Cove violated environmental laws in operating its hotel and resort in Boracay Island, particularly, in its disposal of sewage and wastes.”
He also said the resort “participated in the Environmental Forum initiated by the [DENR], held at the Crown Regency Hotel on 29 November 2018 [sic], and no mention was made that it was in the list of violators of sewage mess; Boracay West Cove has first hand information that it is not and never was, included in the list of violators of sewage mess.” (sic)
He added that Boracay Tubi System Inc. (BTSI) “issued a certification to the effect that Boracay West Cove is a bona fide customer, and it has been siphoning/dislodging its septic tank; hence, Boracay Island Water Corporation [BIWC] has no business with Boracay West Cove and has no knowledge with regard to its disposal and dislodging of Boracay West Cove’s sewer.”
Roxas, likewise, pointed out that the “DENR itself issued the ‘Hazardous Waste Generator Registration Certificate’ to the effect that Boracay West Cove has submitted information to the satisfaction of Environmental Management Bureau of the DENR.”
Boracay West Cove objected to the piece, “Big Boracay resorts face closure over sewage mess,” published on January 25, 2018. In said piece, the resort was included in a list of some 100 resorts that were not connected to the main sewer line of BIWC, but received discharge permits from the DENR. The BusinessMirror reported that the DENR would be validating said list submitted by BIWC, a utility company coowned by the Ayala Group and the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, to the House Committee on Tourism on January 24. The Tieza is the infrastructure arm of the Department of Tourism (DOT), which brought the environmental and easement issues faced by Boracay to the attention of President Duterte.
The piece also clarified that, while these resorts may not be connected to the island’s main sewer line, it could be because their area was still unserviced by BIWC, and may have their own septic tanks or sewage-treatment plants.
The piece further stated that the DENR will have to check the quality of the sewage effluents of these resorts before these are discharged into the sea. DOT and DENR officials have pointed out that the water discharge should be “swimming- pool quality,” known as “Class SB” among utility and sewage firms.
Duterte gave the DENR and the Department of the Interior and Local Government six months to fix the problems in Boracay.