With the onset of the summer season, local and foreign tourists are expected to flock to some of the country’s famous tourist destinations, particularly beach resorts, including Boracay Island, the country’s top tourist destination in Malay, Aklan.
Tourism activities on Boracay Island, however, will be under tight watch to ensure full compliance of various environmental laws by tourism establishments, their employees, as well as tourists.
Authorities maintained that the policy banning smoking and drinking in public places, as well as littering, will be strictly enforced to sustain the gains of Boracay’s six-month moratorium on tourism activities that started on April 26. Boracay was officially reopened on October 26 last year.
At a news conference in Taguig City on Thursday, Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat of the Department of Tourism (DOT) said since Boracay was reopened in October, the Boracay Interagency Task Force (BIATF), together with the concerned local government units (LGUs) in Malay, Aklan, was able to limit the number of tourists visiting the island, strictly within its carrying capacity.
As of February 18, there are 319 accommodations with 11,657 rooms that are all compliant with all environmental laws being enforced jointly and individually by the DOT, Departments of Environment and Natural Resources and the Interior and Local Government, and concerned LGUs.
According to Puyat, Boracay has 6,415 tourists as of February 18. “So far, the average tourist arrival is 5,000 tourists a day and tourist leaving the island is 5,200. It is within the carrying capacity,” she said.
According to the DOT chief, they expect tourists to flock Boracay Island but Puyat said the number of people visiting the island will still be limited, allowing only tourists who can be accommodated by compliant tourism establishments.
“The number of tourists will be limited within the island’s carrying capacity of Boracay. And there will be no smoking and no drinking in public places in Boracay,” Puyat reiterated.
Puyat said “beach parties” will also be restricted unless a special permit is approved by the BIATF.
The BIATF said next month marks the start of the second phase of Boracay’s rehabilitation. The rehabilitation is shifting its focus on ensuring full compliance of various environmental laws, including easement rules on beaches and road networks.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has committed to rehabilitating the remaining roads on the island. Most of the road networks have been widened and cleared of obstruction.
The DPWH has so far allocated P50 million for various road repair and road-widening projects.
Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu gave an update of the ongoing rehabilitation effort in Boracay.
Cimatu noted that some establishments have not fully complied with the easement rule and some establishments, despite repeated appeals by the government, have refused to voluntarily demolish their illegal structures that have encroached on the island’s road network.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, for his part, said the LGU of Malay, Aklan, was asked to issue an ultimatum to these erring business establishments, including several residential units.
He maintained that Boracay is now a “Discipline Zone”
Law-enforcement agencies, he said, will enforce laws in compliance with the island having been declared as such.
There are nine noncompliant establishments as far as the easement rule is concerned, said Cimatu. These business establishments, he said, have been notified of the government’s intention to demolish their property that encroached on no-build zones at the White Beach.
“We will give them 15 days to self-demolish. This is the directive of Secretary Año. If they fail to comply, we will demolish their establishments,” Cimatu said.
Image credits: Stella Arnaldo