PEOPLE POWWOW

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[av_heading heading=’ Boracay goes ‘green’ again’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY HERBERT VEGO
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Thursday, March 9, 2017
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THE OTHER night, a TV newscast played a video clip of the beach of Boracay in its greenest “splendor”. The white sand thereat had disappeared, covered anew by a carpet of moss splashing ashore. The newscaster sounded fair when he echoed the assurance of the islanders that it was just a “temporary” aberration characterizing the onset of summer.

But the news was not really news; I had reported it in this corner three years ago while on a three-day vacation in Boracay. Suspicious that it was aggravated by worsening pollution emanating from nearby septic tanks and poor drainage, I begged of the municipal government of Malay, Aklan to solve the pollution problem. It was around 9 a.m. one morning when photojournalist Ric Octavio and I tried to see the then mayor, John Tan, but in vain; the security guards said he was still asleep in his room at Casa Pilar.

Until now, the hoteliers, restaurateurs and shop owners leave it to their staff to rake up the accumulated “green carpet” every morning. But the moss always tends to add up with every wave breaking over the beach.

It is alarming that three years have passed with no solution to the problem emerging. Moss is not “natural” in a tourist haven that is supposed to attract swimmers. Because it is not in its normal habitat, moss on the beach is clearly a pollutant, even on the assumption that it’s not toxic by itself.

Moss is a fibrous plant that normally grows on damp stone and wood, or even on a shipwreck under the sea. No matter how infrequent it appears, it is never a welcome site on a tourist “paradise”; it could discourage first-time tourists from coming back.

Of course, objectors may shrug off the warning by citing statistics. It is no secret that Boracay is the biggest contributor to the income of the province of Aklan, what with an unprecedented 1.7 million foreign and local tourists recorded in the entire year 2016.

If I heard it right from Regional Director Helen Catalbas of the Department of Tourism, thousands of international tourists on three cruise ships are coming to Boracay between now and the end of this month.

Do we have to wait for reversal of tourist volume to act decisively?

Let this be another wake-up call to local authorities. Either they act now and prevent further degradation of the island, or lose the tourists who lay the golden eggs.

If truth be told, the island no longer projects the ambiance of a natural hideaway. High-rise and air-conditioned hotels like those in Metro Manila now line the beachfront, replacing the bamboo-and-nipa cottages. Were it not for the surrounding white-sand beach, the place could be a mistaken for any other Philippine city where no one could escape air pollution belched by tricycles running on narrow roads that betray poor infrastructure planning.

The shopping area known as The Mall reminds us of the crowded shops in space-starved Divisoria and Baclaran markets in Metro Manila. The narrow roads, barely able to accommodate vehicles coming from opposite directions, betray the place’s lack of development planning.

Boracay is no longer what it used to be when Panay News founder Danny Fajardo and I first visited the island in 1982. There was not yet a single concrete building lining the beach front.  Spaced far between were a score of bamboo-and-nipa huts and carinderias. We rented a two-bedroom hut for an overnight stay at twenty-five pesos only.

Change has indeed come to Boracay.  But as to whether it’s an environment-friendly change, your guess is as good as mine./PN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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