New Boracay resorts lack environment documentsBY RODERICK T. DELA CRUZ
BORACAY - The municipal council of Malay, Aklan is in talks with Palafox Associates, the firm established by architect and urban planner Felino Palafox Jr., to draft a master plan for the fast-developing 10-square kilometer island.
Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano, whose office donated more than P4.8 million to help manage the critical garbage problem on the island, said the master plan would address problems related to over-development and environment.
Durano said the town of Malay had allowed the construction of new resorts on the island even in the absence of required environmental compliance certificate.
“For local government units, issuance of business permits is a revenue function for them, not regulation,” he said. “With a master plan, we can tell the LGU to rationalize the issuance of business permit,” he said.
Private investors in Boracay complained that the lack of master plan had contributed to the problems of traffic, squatting and pollution on the island.
“These are gargantuan problems Boracay is facing. We are now sowing the seeds of our own destruction and if we do not work together, the entire island would be gone, lost in the squalor and decay of garbage and human misery,” the Boracay Chamber of Commerce and Industry said in its March newsletter.
Former environment secretary Elisea Gozon, now a consultant for the World Bank, cited the need to put in the necessary systems to manage the over-development of Boracay.
“The island can only carry so much,” she said, referring to the large structures that have been recently built on the island.
Gozon said the ground water quality of Boracay had exceeded its threshold capacity as early as 1990 and the saltwater intrusion in the aquifers, as a result of continuous extraction of freshwater, threatens the sustainability of the island.
She said the coliform problem in 1997, which severely affected tourism and livelihood in the island, should serve as a warning for residents, tourists and establishments alike.
Assistant Secretary Consuelo Padilla, the presidential assistant for Boracay, said pollution threatened the island’s sustainability.
“Tourism will die if people will come to a trash island,” she said, while quickly adding that over the past 14 months, residents in the island had learned to segregate their trash.
She said waste segregation was being enforced in the island, with violators made to pay hefty fines, in compliance with Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.
Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano, whose office donated more than P4.8 million to help manage the critical garbage problem on the island, said the master plan would address problems related to over-development and environment.
Durano said the town of Malay had allowed the construction of new resorts on the island even in the absence of required environmental compliance certificate.
“For local government units, issuance of business permits is a revenue function for them, not regulation,” he said. “With a master plan, we can tell the LGU to rationalize the issuance of business permit,” he said.
Private investors in Boracay complained that the lack of master plan had contributed to the problems of traffic, squatting and pollution on the island.
“These are gargantuan problems Boracay is facing. We are now sowing the seeds of our own destruction and if we do not work together, the entire island would be gone, lost in the squalor and decay of garbage and human misery,” the Boracay Chamber of Commerce and Industry said in its March newsletter.
Former environment secretary Elisea Gozon, now a consultant for the World Bank, cited the need to put in the necessary systems to manage the over-development of Boracay.
“The island can only carry so much,” she said, referring to the large structures that have been recently built on the island.
Gozon said the ground water quality of Boracay had exceeded its threshold capacity as early as 1990 and the saltwater intrusion in the aquifers, as a result of continuous extraction of freshwater, threatens the sustainability of the island.
She said the coliform problem in 1997, which severely affected tourism and livelihood in the island, should serve as a warning for residents, tourists and establishments alike.
Assistant Secretary Consuelo Padilla, the presidential assistant for Boracay, said pollution threatened the island’s sustainability.
“Tourism will die if people will come to a trash island,” she said, while quickly adding that over the past 14 months, residents in the island had learned to segregate their trash.
She said waste segregation was being enforced in the island, with violators made to pay hefty fines, in compliance with Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.
While the coliform problem has spared Boracay in recent years, solid waste has begun to pile up because of the failure of municipality of Malay to transport the garbage from the island to a landfill across the sea.
The three barangays in the island—Manoc-Manoc, Balabag and Yapak—established separate materials recovery facilities to segregate solid waste.
Each day, garbage trucks make a total of 11 trips to collect 41.5 cubic meters of biodegradable, recyclable and residual waste from more than 300 resorts and thousands of households in Boracay. As of 2000, the island had 12,000 residents, but the number was estimated to have gone up dramatically since then, given the uncontrolled migration of workers.
The three garbage facilities in Boracay piled up a total of 10,000 square meters of waste as of February, which needed to be barged out of the island immediately.
The municipal council of Malay failed to award a contract for the hauling of the garbage because of budget woes, although the collection of P50 environmental tax from each incoming tourist continued.
It was estimated that the municipal government collected P27.8 million in environmental fees last year from 556,000 tourists.
Gozon said the island should be properly managed soon, given the continuous construction of new establishments in Boracay, the influx of thousands of migrants, most of them construction workers and resort employees, the growth in visitor arrivals and the impact of roll-on, roll-off transportation system, which has made the island more accessible to other parts of the archipelago.
The three barangays in the island—Manoc-Manoc, Balabag and Yapak—established separate materials recovery facilities to segregate solid waste.
Each day, garbage trucks make a total of 11 trips to collect 41.5 cubic meters of biodegradable, recyclable and residual waste from more than 300 resorts and thousands of households in Boracay. As of 2000, the island had 12,000 residents, but the number was estimated to have gone up dramatically since then, given the uncontrolled migration of workers.
The three garbage facilities in Boracay piled up a total of 10,000 square meters of waste as of February, which needed to be barged out of the island immediately.
The municipal council of Malay failed to award a contract for the hauling of the garbage because of budget woes, although the collection of P50 environmental tax from each incoming tourist continued.
It was estimated that the municipal government collected P27.8 million in environmental fees last year from 556,000 tourists.
Gozon said the island should be properly managed soon, given the continuous construction of new establishments in Boracay, the influx of thousands of migrants, most of them construction workers and resort employees, the growth in visitor arrivals and the impact of roll-on, roll-off transportation system, which has made the island more accessible to other parts of the archipelago.
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