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By ADRIAN STEWART CO
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February 11, 2018
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MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to close popular tourist attraction Boracay if ever its environmental issues will not be resolved in six months.
In a speech during the Manila Times’ Business Forum in Davao City on Friday, Duterte has tasked Environment secretary Roy Cimatu to fix the sewerage problem in the world-renowned island.
“I will close Boracay. Boracay is a cesspool,” the President said. “If you go into the water, it’s smelly. Smell of what? Shit. Kasilahatnandoon, angpalabasnila, saBoracay…”
Duterte added, “It’s destroying the environment or the Republic of the Philippines and creating a disaster coming. During the days when I was there, ‘yungbasura was just 20 meters away from the beach peroibanangayon.”
In a Cabinet meeting last week, the President has approved in principle the creation of a task force which the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will lead.
The creation of the task force aims to address environmental woes in Boracay.
“If the sewerage and sanitation issues will not be resolved, there will be a time that no more foreigners will go there because he will have – when he goes back to the plane to where he belongs, he will be full of shit going back and forth to the restroom,” Duterte said.
A total of 2,001,974 tourists visited Boracay last year, according to Malay Municipal Tourism Officer Felix delos Santos, which is 16 percent higher compared to that in 2016.
In 2015, the DENR has started cracking down commercial establishments that contribute to water pollution in the island./PN
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