Local gov’t in on things all along
In the raging controversy over President Duterte’s directive to fix Boracay by closing it for six months, even while his administration has also green-lighted the construction of a giant Chinese casino complex on the troubled island, not much has been said about the responsibility of the local government on the issue.
Was it ever consulted by Malacañang or the relevant government agencies on the plan to shutter Boracay? If it was, did it hold public consultations to alert Boracay’s residents, business owners and stakeholders on an urgent issue that stands to affect the island’s P56-billion tourism revenue and some 36,000 Filipinos dependent on it?
Or, as has become all too apparent in Boracay’s steep environmental decline after years of lax civic management, did the local government once again drop the ball by pretending that, despite Manila’s threat of enforced closure, everything remained business as usual?
Now, news has emerged that the local government of the town of Malay in Aklan was in on Malacañang’s plans for Boracay all along.
According to a report in the Inquirer, Malay Vice Mayor Abram Sualog confirmed that the municipal council had approved the $500-million Macau casino project last year without public consultation. It did so because, according to Sualog, “there were already four existing casinos operating on the island which cater to foreign passport holders … [and] one of the conditions in endorsing the gaming resort project was that no residents would be allowed in the casino.”
After approving the proposal by Galaxy Entertainment Group and local partner Leisure Resorts World Corp. to build its casino complex — eventually announced as rising on a 23-hectare property in Barangay Manoc-Manoc, one of Boracay’s three villages — it was then that the municipal council “imposed a moratorium on the putting up of new casinos to limit this kind of establishments.”
An odd gesture, considering that the horses have bolted the barn, so to speak.
It appears now that Boracay’s residents and business owners were kept in the dark about the drastic move to close their island to tourists for six months, ostensibly to launch a massive cleanup but also to allow the unimpeded construction of a Palace-backed casino.
The anger of the residents and business owners at the subterfuge from on high should be directed as well to the connivance of their local officials.
Too bad that the notion of rehabilitating Boracay, in itself a good and overdue course of action, has become typically mired in political mischief.
But if there is any good to come out of this controversy, it might possibly be the awakening by resort owners and residents of other tourist destinations to the idea that they need to clean up, too, lest they suffer the same fate as Boracay’s.
Owners of some 300 beach resorts and waterfront establishments in the Ilocos region, for instance, have reportedly agreed with civic groups and environment officials in their area to look more closely into their operations and rectify any environmental violations.
In particular, Pagudpud in Ilocos Norte, another fast-growing beach destination, now suffers from some of the same infractions that afflict Boracay, such as resorts building within 30 meters from the high-tide waterline.
Establishments in Boracay that are in violation of this directive have been served notices of demolition by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
The same goes for owners of similar structures in Pagudpud and other beaches in the north, as well as in Palawan, where the DENR regional office has also given 32 resorts and restaurants one month to remove their structures from the no-build zone.
Done right, Boracay may still emerge restored. And its story as the world’s favorite island destination brought to the brink of destruction by human greed and governmental neglect could serve as a useful cautionary tale.
