The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
Only violating establishments should be closed and not the entire island.
This was the recommendation made during a four-hour joint Senate public hearing held in Boracay on Friday afternoon.Senator Cynthia Villar, head of the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, said the recommendation will be submitted to President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
The public hearing led by Villar was jointly conducted with chairs of various committees namely Senators Nancy Binay of tourism, Loren Legarda of finance, Juan Miguel Zubiri of trade and commerce, and Joel Villanueva of labor.
The hearing was conducted to shed light on the issues faced by the world-renown island following the pronouncement made by Duterte in February to close the entire island if environmental problems here will not be solved within six months.
Villar said that those establishments not compliant with the law should be “punished”. Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, who reported during the hearing, said that at least 842 establishments in Boracay have environmental violations.Cimatu said of the nine wetlands on the island, five of which were encroached by businesses.
At least three establishments, particularly Seven Seas which is under construction in Barangay Yapak, D’Mall in Station 2 in Balabag and Kingfisher Farm in Barangay Manocmanoc were named to be encroaching the wetlands on the island by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Meanwhile, the recommendation made during the hearing was favored by the business sector of the island.Boracay Foundation Inc. President Nenette Graf said they favor the immediate closure of violating establishments in the island.
They also urged the DENR and the Department of Tourism to have an official list of violators.DENR, meanwhile, was given a week to submit a final list of the violators.
The BFI, representing at least 150 establishments in Boracay, likewise assured the government of their help to clean Boracay but asked that the “implementation be done within the confines of the law following due process”.
They also pushed for the inclusion of the stakeholders in the action plan to be implemented by the government in the next five months.“Close all the illegal structures in violation, but protect without prejudice those that are compliant,” Graf said.
Cimatu and Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo reported to the five members of the Senate the status of the activities conducted to clean-up the island.Officials of the Aklan Provincial Government, Local Government Unit of Malay, members of the business groups, non-government organizations were also invited for an inquiry during the hearing.
Also present during the hearing was Interior Secretary Eduardo Año. Elena Brugger, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry – Boracay also said that closing the island is not a solution to the problem.
Villar, Villanueva, and Zubiri left the hearing at around 4 p.m. but Legarda and Binay stayed for another hour to focus on the garbage problem in the island.
Legarda offered to help the LGU Malay and the officials of the three villages on the island on its solid waste management program.Before the hearing, Villar led the ocular inspection of different areas in the island that started at 9 a.m. at the beach front in Station 1.
Villar also visited the sewage treatment facility of the Boracay Island Water Company in Barangay Balabag, the wetland in Sitio Lugutan and the materials recovery facility in Manocmanoc village. PNA