ILOILO City – While there are violators, there are also a lot of businesses in Boracay Island faithfully observing environmental laws so why punish them, asked Iloilo Economic Development Foundation, Inc. (ILED) chairperson Narzalina Lim.
While the world-famous island resort indeed needs rehabilitation, Lim said if she were the Tourism secretary said she would not recommend its total closure.
The rehabilitation could be done in phases so as not to “shock” local tourism businesses and people, she said.
“You should also consider the people whose lives depend on the tourism industry. There are thousands of them,” said Lim, the first woman secretary of the Department of Tourism during the administrations of presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos.
With less than one week left before the six-month closure that begins on April 26, the number of tourists going to Boracay has already declined.
Data from the Aklan Jetty Port Administration showed the tourist arrivals this April to have dropped by 33 percent already.
Boracay welcomed 81,972 tourists from April 1 to 18, way lower compared to the 122,852 visitors in the same period last year.
President Rodrigo Duterte approved Boracay’s six-month closure beginning April 26 to address the island’s degradation due to the poor implementation of environmental regulations, encroachment of structures and influx of people and businesses beyond Boracay’s carrying capacity.
But why punish law-abiding businesses, Lim asked.
A total shutdown would be “too drastic,” she said.
“If I were the Tourism secretary, I would have recommended to the President, if he would listen, to demolish all the illegal structures first and publish a list of noncompliant resorts so there are no transactions made (with them),” said Lim.
The total closure would have adverse impacts to Panay Island because many of its provinces supply food to Boracay, warned Lim.
“The whole value chain is affected – the buses, tour guide services, poultry raisers, among others. Products from the provinces being supplied to Boracay must find new markets,” she said.
Lim recalled that in 1988 when she was an undersecretary for policy and planning of the Department of Tourism, a master plan for Boracay was crafted.
“I agree that there are rampant violations (of environmental laws). The master plan during my time and succeeding master plans were, however, never implemented,” she said.
There should be transparency in the steps to be taken, Lim added.
“We know who the noncompliant resorts are. We know the local officials and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) officials liable and should be punished,” she said.
Lim also said land reform in Boracay as proposed by President Duterte is out of the question.
But there’s a question on ownership because forestlands and wetlands belong to government, she said.
Only a certain portion of Boracay is alienable and disposable, said Lim, and the rest belong to the government.
She lamented that local government officials and DENR allowed people and business to occupy encroach Boracay’s wetlands and forestlands. (With a report from the Philippine News Agency/PN)
