Tourists warned of illegal island hopping activities

The Malay Tourism Office warns tourists against the proliferation of illegal island hopping activities in this resort island.

Felix Delos Santos, chief tourism officer, said that they have received several reports about the tourists having been victimized by fake agents.

The fake agents approach tourists for a transaction on island hopping. They would then seek down payments of thousands of pesos from potential victims and will then fail to meet the them at the agreed upon schedule.

"There is an official booth both in station 1 and 3 in Boracay where accredited agents of island hopping activities can be seen. Their operations are for sea sports and island hopping activities," said Delos Santos.

The local government is currently investigating those who are not official members of the Boracay Island Hopping Activities (BIHA) for possible estafa cases.

DENR maintains zero construction policy in Boracay forest areas

The Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) maintains the "no build zone" policy in forest areas in this resort island.

Merlyn Aborka of the PENRO said they continue to receive reports of several new constructions ongoing in declared forest areas in this resort island.

"The DENR continues to maintain moratorium that we are not giving new environmental compliance certificates (ECC's) to new constructions. What the DENR gives is the ECC for the upgrading of resorts only," said Aborka, adding that it was the Environmental Management Bureau of the DENR which issues the ECCs.

The PENRO together with the regional and national DENR officials are currently studying how to properly implement land use and zoning plan in this resort island.

"Our main problem is even though we wanted to implement no build policy in forest areas, some investors are still pushing for their construction of resorts even without necessary government clearances. This illegal activity destroys our already dwindling forest cover in Boracay," Aborka added.

Boracay has around 400 hectares of preserved forest land and 628.96 hectares of agricultural land.

DENR probes collapse of Tambisaan Port

The Aklan Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) is conducting an investigation over the collapsed portion of the Tambisaan Port here.

The Tambisaan Port is being used by the local government as alternative port for tourists during habagat season.

The said port overhang at the big corals occurred Saturday.

Boulders and cements were taken at the sea on Wednesday as this has become eyesore to tourists.

Heherson 'Bong' Alvarez of the PENRO said that the collapse may have been due to the habagat.

No one was reported hurt in the said incident.

Cruise ship 'MS The World' to visit Boracay in July

The Aklan provincial government is anticipating the port of call of the 'MS The World' in this resort island this July.

MS The World is considered a private residential cruise ship serving as a residential community owned by its members. Members are coming from 19 countries worldwide and is based in Florida, USA.

Niven Maquirang, jetty port administrator, said that they are finalizing the meeting with the agent Jardine Shipping for the expected arrival on July 28-29.

"We anticipate at least 10 cruise ships to visit Boracay this year as we continue to promote Boracay as a premiere cruise hub," Maquirang said Wednesday.

This is the first time that MS The World will visit Boracay.

Report said the MS The World has 165 residences (106 apartments, 19 studio apartments, and 40 studios), all owned by the ship's "residents." Average occupancy is 150 to 200 residents and guests.

APEC Ocular Team now in Boracay

The national ocular team of the Asia Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) is now in Boracay to conduct inspection of its facilities for the second time.

The visit is one of the many preparations as the APEC organizing committee is seriously considering this resort island as one of the venues for the APEC Conference 2015.

The APEC Team headed by Ambassador Ma. Angelina Sta. Catalina, deputy director for conference management and services, is expected to sit down for a dinner meeting with the local government executives Tuesday night.

Among the agenda is the possible hosting of Boracay for the official APEC meeting on trade. The said meeting will be attended by the members of the Ministers Responsible for Trade (MRT) of APEC.

The lead local committee for the APEC Conference on Trade will be headed by the Department of Trade ad Industry.

On Wednesday, the APEC tem will inspect key facilities such as the local airports, hotels and other possible sites which may be of use to the APEC 2015 meeting.

The Philippine National Police vowed to make the APEC 2015 Ministers Meeting zero crime zone.

‘Conserve electricity, conserve environment’

The Department of Energy (DOE) urged the public to conserve electricity to conserve the environment.
Electricity is used in majority of industries in the Philippines, and its utilization causes pollution.
The country ranks 42nd worldwide as a major contributor to pollution, which in the long run would cause climate change, said Crizaldo Santos, science research specialist for the Energy Utilization Management Bureau of DOE.
“When we save electricity, we help conserve the environment,” Santos said.
As the country progresses, it becomes more and more impossible not to use electricity, which in turn affects the environment, he said.
“The DOE is doing everything it can to help conserve electricity and conserve the environment,” he said.
Santos was here early this week to give energy-saving tips to members of the Multi-Sectoral Advisory Council.
Meanwhile, the DOE has identified Boracay as venue of the Visayas-wide summit on electricity conservation slated on June 25–27./

Festival for the IPs eyed in Boracay

The Aklan provincial government and the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA) are currently coordinating for the possible organization of the so-called "Dayaw" Festival.

Aklan Gov. Florencio Miraflores said that NCCA representatives were in the province on Wednesday to discuss the agenda. The meeting, held at the Aklan Provincial Capitol, was also attended by several Aeta leaders.

"We are eyeing to organize the Dayaw Festival in Boracay where a great number of Aklan's Indigenous People (IPs) are located," Miraflores said.

The proposed festival aims to recognize the heritage of the Aetas.

Recently, the Balabag Parish in Boracay expressed gratitude for the plans of the national government to promote the Aeta village as one of the tourism lures for this resort island.

Aklan Cuisine to be featured in Malaysian TV

Some personnel of the Radio Television Malaysia were here recently to document the Aklan cuisine in their country.

Ron Bautista, of the information department of the local government of Kalibo, said the television personnel is headed by its Chef Ishkandar Ishak, director Yuzmal Ghazali, DOP Iman Karim, Soundman Amwang Jaffarm, production assistant Joe Ibrahim and Elaine Cariedo Lozano a freelance producer.

"The crew came from the Ceritaraza (story of taste) segment under the travel location cooking shows program of the Malaysian TV," said Bautista.

The personnel first visited the Halal Chicken section of the Kalibo Public Market. After buying the needed ingredients, they cook the cuisine at the Muslim Community in this town. The chef tried to cook the popular 'Inasal na Manok.'

The Malaysian visitors also proceeded to the Kalibo Mangrove Eco-Park where the chef cooked some seafoods and called it 'Lukan Chili Bakhawan.' Malaysians loves plenty of spices.

The group also visited the seafoods capital of Aklan in Barangay Dumaguit, New Washington where the chef cooked some crabs and called it 'Chili Tomato Dumaguit.

"The television show aims to educate and entertain Malaysian viewers on how to cook cheap and nutritious foods in different locations," said Bautista.

Singaporean celebrities endorse Boracay

Ten Singaporean celebrities are in this resort island Tuesday to promote Boracay Island in their country.

Tim Ticar, officer in charge of the Department of Tourism (DoT), said that a group of celebrities headed by best actress nominee Singapore-Chinese celebrity Ann Kok. Ticar did not elaborate who were the other Singaporean celebrities.

"Kok and other celebrities are in Boracay for a photo shoot. The celebrities dressed in swimsuit will be featured in a travel magazine in Singapore," said Ticar.

Earlier, the DoT had revealed that they will be aggressively promoting Boracay to Singapore. The DoT is currently coordinating with the National Tourism Department of Singapore for the publicity and marketing.

"Because of this, Boracay is becoming a star destination as already local showbiz personalities consider this resort island as one of their favorite beach destinations," said Ticar.

For the past several years, the GMA TV network has been conducting its annual weekend getaway in this resort island bringing in a dozen of local stars every summer.

Ticar hopes that Singaporean tourists will join the top 10 foreign tourists arrivals in Boracay this year.

Uniformed wind breakers urged for Boracay resort owners

The Task Force Redevelopment here is urging resort owners to establish uniform wind breakers and wave breakers especially those at the front beach.

Mabel Bacani of the task force said that the uniform wind breakers will help ease the effect of the upcoming "habagat" (southwest monsoon) winds in this resort island.

"The resort owners who are at the front beach should shoulder the costs of both the wind and wave breakers. We have already provided them the design for uniformity," Bacani said.

In the past, resort owners have been already putting up their respective designs of wind breakers. The task force decided to come up with a uniform design for better visual attraction.

Meanwhile, Bacani said that the Mines and Geo-Science Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has cleared the task force of any vilation or environmental impact with the dumping of debris in the sea from the series of demolition of several resorts here in 2013. The demolished structures reportedly violated the easement rule of the DENR.

"Right now, from the beach line we are moving forward inside of Boracay as we continuously implement the task force redevelopment goal of clearing Boracay from illegal structures," Bacani said.

BORACAY BRIDGE

 The Department of Tourism (DOT) is not keen on endorsing the proposed bridge to be constructed in the resort island connecting mainland Malay, Aklan. Art Boncato Jr., DOT assistant secretary, said that the proposal to build a bridge is a cooperative effort of the local government of Malay and the Department of Public Works and Highways. The Daewoo Construction Firm based in Cebu City is currently conducting a feasibility study for the proposed bridge. The bridge project is considered a priority project of the local government of Malay. “The purpose of the bridge is technically used for convenience of travel by both the residents and the tourists,” said Boncato.

Tourists urged to be safety conscious during rainy season

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in Caticlan is urging both foreign and local tourists including residents here to be always safety conscious particularly during southwest monsoon rains spawned by the rainy season.

Alex Sajo, assistant station commander of the PCG-Caticlan, said that the southwest monsoon rains makes plain walking or commuting slippery as what already happened in several incidents.

"Tourists should also be vigilant in engaging in other tourism activities in this resort island such as diving and island hopping during rainy season," said Sajo, adding that several incidents have happened in this resort island during the southwest monsoon.

According to records of the Department of Tourism from January to May this year, tourist arrivals has reached an unprecedented 735,053.

Parts of Kalibo Airport runway to be closed for repair

An executive of the Department of Tourism (DoT) confirmed reports that parts of the runway of the Kalibo International Airport (KIA) will be closed for a month long repair.

Art Boncato Jr., DoT assistant secretary, said the improvement of airport meant to prepare the KIA for a boost in tourism for this resort island.

Based on the advisory of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), around 400 meters of the 2,187 meters runway will be closed for asphalt overlay works at the runway number 5.

"The closure is only temporary as it aims to enhance KIA's operation in the future," said Boncato.

Because of the closure, the CAAP urges plane companies to lower their load capacity.