Malay LGU prepared for DILG probe

The local government here is prepared for the ongoing investigation being conducted by a team of the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) Central Office.

Rowen Aguirre, executive assistant to the Mayor of Malay, said Monday the DILG investigation began last week.

The investigation is meant to identify possible negligence of several local government officials that has led to the crackdown on Boracay Island, among them Malay Mayor Ciceron Cawaling, the municipal engineering office, and the local zoning department.

Part of the ongoing investigation is what happened to the PHP75 environmental fee being asked by the local government from both foreign and local tourists coming to Boracay Island. Boracay welcomed more than two million visitors in 2017.

"We are awaiting the result of the ongoing probe. We are confident that the DILG would be fair in their judgment. The administration of Cawaling is only more than two years and many of the problems being faced by Boracay developed before Cawaling's term," Aguirre said.

Alma Belejero, the zoning officer, earlier said that several resorts are not complying fairly. The zoning office also lacks personnel to monitor all of the ongoing developments in Boracay.

President Rodrigo R. Duterte in January called this resort island a cesspool.