DENR chief Cimatu takes on ‘Boracay challenge’

BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu has accepted the ‘Boracay challenge’ as he called for stakeholders’ support to help address the problems in the popular island destination.

Cimatu flew to Malay, Aklan on June 22 to assess also the situation of the island regarding the garbage and sewerage problems with Aklan congressman Carlito Marquez and members of Malay Sangguniang Bayan.

“I accepted the Boracay challenge dahil ang Boracay Island ay mahalaga sa atin. Pagtulungan natin upang maayos ang mga problema dito,” he said.

Cimatu also stressed the need to solve the garbage problems by putting up additional sanitary landfill in mainland Malay. Currently, the sanitary landfill handles the residual waste transported through a barge to Barangay Kabulihan.

He also ordered the DENR regional office to revive the operations of the Community Environment Natural Resources Office (CENRO) in Boracay Island.

“May CENRO office dapat para tutukan ang mga problema sa Boracay dahil dumami ang turista at establishments dito. Nandiyan na ang sistema ngunit napababayaan at wala na ang mga nag-monitor sa problema,” he said.

For his part, Marquez said two barangays in the island – Balabag and Yapak - will also reactivate their own materials recovery facilities (MRF) after the collection of residual waste was centralized last year in Manoc-Manoc MRF.

Last month, the contractor started hauling the 10,900 cubic meters of residual waste to Kabulihan sanitary landfill from Manoc-Manoc MRF to solve the mounting garbage concerns.

The new DENR chief also discussed the greening and reforestation programs of DENR with the town mayors and Aklan governor Florencio Miraflores in Ibajay, Aklan.

Cimatu, an adopted son of Malinao, Aklan and the province of Aklan, served as Battalion commander in Aklan in the 1989. He was also the 20th chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in 2002.

The article was originally published by independent online blog Aklan Forum Journal. The unrestricted use in print or radio, publication and distribution of articles are allowed provided the original author and Aklan Forum Journal are credited.