BORACAY WOES: Priest warns of tourism ‘damage’ if environment problems persist

“Boracay may be like the ruins in Marawi if the tourism industry fails due to environmental degradation.”

Father Jose Tudd Belandres fielded this warning amid environmental issues confronting this world-famous island.

Belandres – who is the island’s Catholic parish priest – said they have coordinated with Environment secretary Roy Cimatu to respond to Boracay’s environmental condition.

Belandres added that the island residents, especially the poor, will be “most affected” when the tourism industry bugs down. He said, “Stakeholders could just leave Boracay anytime and transfer to different destinations.”

By “stakeholders”, Belandres means some government officials and business owners in the island resort.

Just this month, the Office of the Ombudsman in Visayas issued an order removing from the service five senior officials of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO).

The 18-page decision that Deputy Ombudsman for Visayas Paul Elmer Clemente penned dismissed PENRO head Ivene Reyes, PENRO supervising ecosystem management specialist Joanne Adaniel, PENRO land management inspector Alvaro Nonan, PENRO senior ecosystems management specialist Nilo Subong, and PENRO forest technician Cesar Guarino.

A few days after the suspension of the PENRO officials, residents in Barangay Manoc-manoc reported seeing a group of men working for the construction of a private resort in the island.

The private resort will have its own port, the residents added.

The men, whose names were not identified, allegedly said Cimatu gave them a “go signal” to build the private port.

The local government of Malay ordered to stop the construction after finding that it had no permits. It also ordered for the demolition of the already completed concrete structure at the beach.

Moreover, 15 trucks from Boracay have been discovered to have dumped septic waste in Barangay Tigayon, Kalibo, Aklan.

John Peter Madula, head of the enforcement section of the Solid Waste Management Service Unit of Kalibo, said his team along with some PENRO personnel inspected the area.

“Based on our initial investigation, the septic waste was dumped by the contractor of the Boracay Island Water Company, Inc., an Ayala-affiliated company,” Madula told Panay News. “The contractor started bringing the septic waste in Barangay Tigayon on Nov. 9.”

Madula added that his team could have not discovered the company’s activity if it were not for the report they received after one of the trucks spilled the waste on the road.

“This prompted us to investigate,” said Madula.

A representative from the Boracay Island Water Company, Inc. told Madula that they contracted the BP Truck and Hauling Services for the transportation of the biosolids, which were supposed to be used as organic fertilizer in an eight-hectare farm lot in Barangay Tigayon.

Currently, the local government of Kalibo is preparing charges for economic sabotage against Boracay Island Water Company, Inc.

Meanwhile, the local government of Malay and the Boracay Foundation, Inc. (BFI) has asked the Congress for a conference that will tackle Boracay’s environmental problems.

Malay councilor Nette Graf, also the BFI president, attended the conference in Manila and said she asked for additional budget to fund programs that will solve the island’s environmental problems.

“We know the problems already so they should provide Malay with a bigger budget. Our tourism receipt contribution last year was P48 billion but what’s coming back to us is merely P440 million, not even 10 percent of our contribution,” said Graf./