One entry policy up in Boracay

BY NESTOR P.BURGOS JR.

BORACAY -- The provincial government of Aklan has implemented an ordinance imposing a one-entry-one-exit policy in the island-resort of Boracay amid opposition from resort owners.
Since Nov. 1, all boats from and to the island dock at the Cagban jetty port in Barangay Manoc-Manoc at the southern tip of the island-resort.
Before Provincial Ordinance No. 15-03 was implemented, a multiple-entry-single-exit scheme was followed which allows the motorboats, mostly carrying tourists from the mainland, to dock at the three boat stations along the four-kilometer stretch of white beach and depart from the Cagban jetty port.
Aklan Gov. Carlito Marquez said the ordinance was implemented after the Kalibo Regional Trial Court dismissed a petition questioning the legality of the provincial ordinance passed by the local government of Malay town where Boracay belongs.
The ordinance was supposed to take effect on April 1 but was met with opposition from the Malay municipal government and others sectors.
Marquez said the ordinance is among the measures intended to tighten security and improve the comfort of tourists in the world-famous resort.
'The security of the island comes first," Marquez said in a telephone interview.
He said the scheme will also clear and protect the island's waters and beaches from the motorboats that crowd the area. This would also help prevent accidents like motorboats accidentally hitting tourists swimming in the waters.
Marquez said they will provide special access permits to resorts which are not easily accessible through roads on the island. But the Boracay Foundation Inc., a group of resort and restaurant owners and business operators on the island, said they are standing by their position that the implementation of the ordinance should be deferred.
The BFI and the Boracay Chamber of Commerce Inc. had earlier issued a joint position paper calling for the deferment of the implementation of the provincial ordinance until the necessary infrastructure systems like roads and adequate transportation are put in place.

The business groups also want the creation of the jetty port management body to manage the operations of the port and set guidelines and standards before the ordinance is implemented.
Graf said they support policies that will improve the security and safety of the island but support services that will minimize the discomfort to tourists should be instituted first.
She said they expect the circumferential road of the island which connects the resorts to the jetty port to be "chaotic" when diggings for the road widening and drainage system projects start.
Tourist arrivals are expected to increase in the coming months as more Europeans and visitors from polar regions arrive up to summer.
The island has enjoyed a continuous increase in tourists since 1999 mostly from domestic tourists and Koreans. The number of visitors reached 499,457 last year which was 16.48 percent higher than the 428,755 recorded in 2004.
Tourism in Boracay contributed P8.18 billion in revenues to the economy last year, 38 percent higher than the P7.88 billion earned in 2004.