BORACAY – The validity of the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force (BIATF) has been extended until the end of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration on June 30, 2022.
Under the President’s Executive Order (EO) 147 released publicly on Tuesday night, the BIATF will be deemed dissolved on June 30, 2022, “unless extended or sooner terminated by the President.”
The BIATF is tasked to facilitate the rehabilitation and ensure the ecological sustainability of Boracay. It is being extended to “ensure completion of the remaining milestones of the Boracay Action Plan until 2022,” said Duterte.
“The COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic and the imposition of community quarantine measures have resulted in unprecedented delays and massive disruptions in the implementation of critical programs and projects based on the key thematic areas of the Boracay Action Plan,” EO 147 read.
President Duterte created the BIATF by virtue of EO 53 on May 18, 2018. It was supposed to end two years after its creation but it was extended until May 8, 2021 through EO 115.
The famous Western Visayas tourist attraction was closed to tourists from April to September 2018 for a massive rehabilitation of the island.
BIATF set regulations to address the environmental problems that have long been plaguing the island.
Based on EO 147, around 80 percent or 271 out of 339 establishments in Boracay are now compliant with the “25 + five-meter beach easement,” while 83 percent or 1,017 of 1,230 total structures are now compliant with the “12-meter road easement.”
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has also prepared 163 cases against illegal occupants of forestlands. Fifty-four of the 163 cases have been filed in court by the Department of Justice and the National Bureau of Investigation, and one by the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office of Aklan and Community Environment and Natural Resources Office of Boracay.
The Environmental Management Bureau has also filed a total of 262 cases before the Pollution Adjudication Board, 160 of which have already resulted in settlement of fines.
The ambient water quality monitoring has also found that all beaches, except at the Tulubhan outfall, are now “Class SB-compliant,” or suitable for recreational activities.
The EO further stated that two wetlands in Boracay have been fully recovered from illegal settlers, as part of the ongoing rehabilitation of all the nine wetlands of the island.
The 10-year Sold Waste Management Plan and Cave Management Plan have likewise been approved and their implementation is continuously being monitored.
Phases 1 and 2 of the rehabilitation and improvement of the Boracay Circumferential Road have also been completed in 2020, while Phase 3 is ongoing, and Phase 4 is planned to be implemented in 2022, the EO said.
“Fifty-seven percent of Phase 2 of the Boracay Drainage Improvement Project, under the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, has been completed,” it added./PN
