THE Duterte administration is eyeing the management of Boracay Island by the Department of Tourism (DOT), absent any law creating a separate development authority.
Tourism Secretary Bernadette Fatima Romulo Puyat revealed this in an interview with CNN Philippines on Monday. She said, “The President has already instructed the Cabinet, after the rehabilitation, that the Department of Tourism will take over. We will be creating an executive order that it will be under the [DOT], but of course, I still [need the help of other secretaries] of the DPWH [Department of Public Works and Highways], DILG [Department of the Interior and Local Government], DENR [Department of Environment and Natural Resources]. Without them, it will be hard to enforce the law. And we are all in this to follow the President’s directive to take care of the environment and follow the law.”
Boracay Island is slated to reopen on October 26, after six months of rehabilitation work ordered by President Duterte meant to address environmental pollution.
The proposed EO opens up the Duterte administration to legal questions, however, primarily because the Local Government Code of 1991 is in place.
There have been previous laws and executive orders that put Boracay Island under the management of the DOT. These include Presidential Proclamation 1801, signed by former President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. on November 10, 1978, “Declaring certain islands, coves and peninsulas in the Philippines as tourist zones under the administration and control of the Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA),” and Executive Order 706, signed by then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on January 18, 2008, “Mandating the Secretary of Tourism to exercise administration and control mandate of the [PTA] over Boracay Island and for other purposes.” PTA is the forerunner of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza), the infrastructure arm of the DOT, which helps develop tourism economic zones.
There were also previous letters of instructions (LOIs), such as 1298 signed on February 26, 1983 by then-President Marcos, creating an interagency committee headed by the PTA with members the Philippine Constabulary Chief, Bureau of Immigration and Deportation Commissioner, Philippine Coast Guard Commanding Officer and the Provincial Health Officer, with the aim of enforcing pertinent laws and regulations to protect Boracay. There was also EO 377 signed by Arroyo on October 22, 2004, which created a private sector-led Eminent Persons Group “to oversee the sustainable development of Boracay tourism.”
Interior Undersecretary Epimaco V. Densing III opined that a law needs to be created for an entity to manage Boracay. “There is a directive to create the Boracay Development Authority through an EO. But there should really be a law,” he stressed, because “Boracay should be managed by the local government unit per the Local Government Code.”
He pointed out, though, that EO 53, creating the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force, has a lifespan of two years, and already manages the island. “The LGU is included in the task force as long as the task force does not step on the powers of the LGU under the Local Government Code,” he noted.
In a previous interview with the BusinessMirror, former Tourism Secretary Joseph “Ace” H. Durano also said the Local Government Code, in a way, hampered his agency’s full supervisory control over Boracay despite Arroyo’s EO 706. “There is a continuing jurisdictional competition between the DOT/PTA [Tieza now] and the municipality of Malay, as far as development authority over Boracay. On one hand, the DOT/PTA was given administrative authority under the EO,” he noted.
“On the other hand, the Local Government Code grants LGUs governmental powers which includes the issuance of permits. Even with the EO, the DOT/PTA does not have supervisory powers over LGUs that will allow DOT/PTA to reverse actions of LGUs. With the present setup, all stakeholders must just work together for the sustainability of the island,” said Durano, who had also chaired PTA under the Macapagal-Arroyo administration.
For her part, Romulo Puyat acknowledged, “Yes, there has to be a law [creating a Boracay management authority]. But for the meantime, [the EO will be in place], while our legislators are running.”