Aklan mayors plan to fund volunteers for Boracay rehab

The 16 local chief executives in the province are currently considering sending off residents as volunteers to help in the rehabilitation of this resort island for six months.

“We are considering sending off at least 20 volunteers per town to help in the Boracay rehabilitation,” Malinao Mayor Wilbert Ariel Igoy said. “Their allowances may be sourced out from both the budget of the local government and the provincial government.”

Igoy, the president of the Provincial Mayors League, said they have been asked by the Aklan provincial government to send delegates.

When plans have been finalized, the volunteers are being eyed to stay in public schools during summer. By June in the opening of classes, they will be accommodated at the covered gym of the barangays of Balabag and Manoc Manoc.

“Everybody in the province is  affected by the six months of closure as ordered by President Duterte,” Igoy added.

Meanwhile, the Aklan Electric Cooperative (Akelco) is also eyeing to seek the help of the power cooperatives all over the country to speed up relocation of electric poles during the six months closure of Boracay.

Akelco General Manager Alexis M. Regalado said the volunteers to be named as Task Force:Kapatid will be deployed in Boracay.

A tourism advocate has claimed the six months closure of Boracay Island have gained worldwide respect as the Philippine government is going to sustainable tourism.

Former Consul General Robert Lim Joseph, now a consultant of Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo, said the closure is an eye-opener. Joseph accused resorts of failing to obey the rules and dumping waste into the sea. He added it is also important that structures encroaching the shoreline be completely taken down. Joseph echoed the need for Boracay to have a functional sewerage-treatment plant and wider roads.

Joseph said hotels should also use the time to repaint and undertake repairs.