AN official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has appealed to Boracay Island stakeholders for their support and cooperation in helping address the garbage problem gripping the country’s top tourism destination.
“The DENR cannot do it alone. The problem here is the lack of discipline of the people in Boracay,” Benny D. Antiporda, Environment undersecretary for solid waste management and local government units (LGUs) said during a news conference in Quezon City on New Year’s Day.
The official was reacting to reports that Boracay, previously the subject of massive rehabilitation by an interagency task force led by the DENR, is stinking with garbage after days of heavy rains and winds brought about by Typhoon Ursula.
He said the current focus of the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force composed of the DENR, Departments of the Interior and Local Government and Tourism is to clear the beachfront of stinking garbage and resume waste collection as soon as possible.