Gina’s comments make Boracay execs defensive

 Local government and business leaders defended Boracay after Environment secretary Regina Paz “Gina” Lopez criticized the island’s tourism model as one that displaces the poor.

They hit back at the Environment department for allegedly failing to help Boracay with its environmental woes and lamented that such comment from a public official like Lopez could discourage tourists from visiting the island.

Mayor Ciceron Cawaling conceded that the island cannot be considered a tourism model.

But the local chief executive of Malay, Aklan — the local government with jurisdiction over Boracay — said what Lopez thinks about the island might turn off tourists.

“I hope the Department of Tourism would intervene,” he said.

While Boracay is worth billions of pesos, business establishments there have displaced its original inhabitants, according to Lopez.

“I don’t like Boracay … But the people who live in Boracay, where are they? They call them kulot (curly). They’re somewhere there in the mountain,” a report on ABS-CBNNews.com quoted her as saying in a business forum. “I don’t believe in that kind of tourism.”

“Economic growth is not genuine if it doesn’t result in social justice,” Lopez added.

In a live question-and-answer session on Facebook, Lopez said her ideal tourism model involves locals, especially indigenous people, benefitting from ecotourism.

“I don’t like the tourism of Boracay because the kulots (Ati tribe) are still in the mountains. That’s what I’ve been told,” a report on Inquirer.net quoted her as saying. “The people of Boracay are not benefiting, and it’s like they did not take care of the environment.”

Issuing such public statements against Boracay was a “conduct unbecoming” of the Environment secretary, said Dante Pagsuguiron, tourism committee chairman of the Sangguniang Bayan of Malay.

“We in the local government have been doing our best to fix the woes of Boracay,” Pagsuguiron said. “Instead of saying negative [things], the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) should do its job of helping Boracay conserve the environment.”

While the DENR acts on environmental concerns in the island, “Boracay must do more,” Boracay Foundation, Inc. (BFI) president Dionisio Salme said.

The DENR promised to help with coral restoration in Boracay but has not fulfilled it, claimed BFI marketing officer Raffy Cooper.