ENVIRONMENT Secretary Roy A. Cimatu has ordered Boracay’s two water concessionaires—the Boracay Island Water Co. (BIWC) and the Boracay Tubi Systems Inc. (BTSI)—to work together after receiving reports of a spike in coliform levels in Bulabog Beach.
Boracay, the country’s top tourist destination on the municipality of Malay, Aklan, will be closed to tourists for six months starting April 26, despite mounting protest from local businesses and other stakeholders on the island.
They said closing Boracay to tourists is unnecessary and that it will have dire consequences for the local economy, including loss of jobs of at least around 17,000 employees.
Cimatu was dismayed that the coliform levels in the said beach went up again 2 million (most probable per number per 100 milliliters).
The environment chief has ordered an investigation on what caused the spike in coliform levels in Bulabog Beach just days after publicly announcing a significantly decreasing trend.
“That was a bright spot in our efforts. We were able to decrease it to 2,000 [most probable number per 100 milliliters] after a trend of millions over the past two years,” Cimatu recounted during the meeting with the water concessionaires. “And then here comes the shocking report that it has again reached 2 million.”
Cimatu, who was going back and forth to supervise the ongoing rehabilitation on Boracay Island, has ordered intensified actions against establishments illegally connected to the drainage system.
Cimatu said he instructed officials of both BIWC and the BTSI to improve connections to the sewer and drainage lines.
“This task is crucial to improving Boracay’s water quality, and is instrumental for us to recommend the reopening of the island,” he said. “Any kind of water that is being discharged into the sea should be treated first.”
Cimatu added had both companies worked together sooner, “We should not have reached this stage where we need to have Boracay closed.”
“We have to clean the drainage system now,” he said. “We also have to make people responsible for the discharge, whether they are connected or not, because this is what is causing the problem.”
Still, Cimatu assured both companies of support from the Department of Enviroment and Natural Resources and the Department of Public Works and Highways, which were represented during the meetings, and promised to sign the necessary permits or clearances.
“The bottom line of the closure is because of the ‘cesspool’ problem,” he said. “Our goal is to have Boracay known as having one of the cleanest waters in the world.”
The DENR secretary met with the companies on Tuesday after a visit to the BIWC’s treatment facilities, where he was accompanied by Aklan Gov. Florencio Miraflores and other DENR officials.
He said he was pleased to observe clearer discharge water during a visit to the BIWC’s treatment facilities, and discussed other possible actions to fast-track the cleanup of wastewater being discharged into the sea.
The BIWC agreed to set up interceptors that would trap any water from the drainage system and treat the water first before being discharged into the sea. As for BTSI, Cimatu tasked the company to clean up the water around its facility in Sitio Lugotan in Barangay Manoc-Manoc and revive the mangrove forest in the area.
Meanwhile, Cimatu welcomed BTSI’s proposal to sponsor a water-quality management area where stakeholders themselves would monitor the quality of a water body and initiate efforts to maintain its cleanliness.
BTSI President James Molina expressed his all-out support to the ongoing effort on Boracay Island.
Meanwhile, the DENR chief has ordered newly designated Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) chief, Director Crisanta Marlene Rodriguez, to pick up the pace and start working to save the Puka shell beach.
Rodriguez, a forester, officially assumed as chief of the DENR-BMB, replacing former DENR-BMB chief Theresa Mundita S. Lim, who was recently sworn in as executive director of the Asean Centre for Biodiversity.
“We have a mission in Boracay. My challenge to you now is to bring back the puka shells. The Filipino people from the whole country will be watching you,” Cimatu told Rodriguez. “We should show to the Filipino people that we would finish what we have started.”
Cimatu has just announced the establishment of a 750-hectare critical habitat for threatened species within the world-famous resort island.
The undertaking is part of the grand plan to restore Boracay’s pristine waters, lush green forests and wetlands.
In response, Rodriguez said, “The Boracay issue is only the tip of the iceberg, and though the task remains to be Sisyphean, it is one task that we will continue to undertake simply because it is what needs to be done.”
“Public opinion and perception of our work prepared us,” she added. “But forge on, we must, for though it may be bloody, we shall remain unbowed.”
Prior to becoming BMB head, Rodriguez served as director of the DENR’s Region 5 office. A forester by profession after graduating from Bicol State University, she also served as a community Environment and natural resources officer.