DENR mandates waste segregation in Boracay

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has ordered the residents, hotel and restaurant owners in this resort island to practice waste segregation effective immediately.

DENR Regional Director Jim Sampulna said Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu has issued a directive to rid Boracay of garbage by July 17.

“The DENR will be filing a case against the local government of [the municipality of] Malay and the members of the Sangguniang Bayan if the order was not properly acted upon. Tourists must also be warned against littering while in Boracay,” Sampulna told the BusinessMirror in an interview last week.

In 2015 the local government of Malay failed to bid the hauling of the garbage from the Boracay Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Barangay Manoc Manoc, resulting in the piling up of garbage that were gathered at the MRF.

Solid waste from households and business establishments are brought to the MRF for segregation and recycling. Those not fit for recycling are brought to the sanitary landfill.

After Ciceron Cawaling was elected mayor of Malay in 2016 he ordered the hauling of garbage from the MRF and transferred to the sanitary landfill in Malay through a barge.

With the coming weather disturbances, unavailable transportation and lack of manpower, the local government is having difficulty in cleaning up the garbage at the MRF. To date, around 20,000 kilograms to 30,000 kg of garbage are yet to be hauled.

On July 3 the DENR, together with its attached agencies, the Environmental Management Board, Mines and GeoSciences Bureau, as well as the provincial offices of DENR on Panay Island, has started a monthlong house-to-house campaign for recycling.

The first week of the campaign was held in the front beach, where hotels, restaurants and other businesses thrive. DENR personnel inspected the waste-management practices of each establishment.

The stakeholders were also advised by a representative of the local government that by July 15 the ban in the use of plastics and Styrofoam materials will be implemented.

Belle Cabesa, representing the Waste Management Department of DENR’s Central Office, said the DENR will soon be sending equipment to Boracay to help in the recycling of garbage on the resort island. For his part, Cawaling said the local government has already come up with a 10-year waste-management plan to rid Boracay of garbage.

Environmental ‘martial law’

The Department of Tourism (DOT)-Western Visayas recommended to Cimatu to declare an environmental “martial law” on this resort island.

Helen Catalbas, DOT regional director, said the proposed environmental martial law is meant to enforce that will ensure the sustainability of the resort island.

Ivene Reyes of Aklan Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office said the DENR is awaiting full details from the DOT on how the proposed martial law would be implemented.

“The DOT, however, is committed to withdraw its accreditation to hotels and restaurants that are not practicing proper segregation scheme,” he said.

Reyes also revealed that the DENR would start this year a study on the carrying capacity of Boracay for tourists, infrastructures and residents.

In the 1980s the DENR has undertaken a study on the carrying capacity of Boracay but the basis then was the amount of available water supply for residents and tourists.

“The DENR needs to update its data on Boracay,” Reyes said.

Environment summit

Maylynn Aguirre-Graf, the newly elected president of the Boracay Foundation Inc. (BFI), said the business group is planning to organize an environment summit soon in order to address various issues.

“The BFI has already conducted four meetings on the planned environment summit. In our recent meeting, we had invited Dr. Miguel Fortes to discuss with us his proposed environmental management plan for Boracay,” said Graf, who is also a councilor and the chairman of the committee on environment in the Sanguniang Bayan of Malay.

Fortes serves as the project manager of the Coastal Ecosystems Conservation and Adaptive Management. He is also a professor of the University of the Philippines-Marine Science Institute.

“Fortes has updated us on the environment master plan for Boracay. He submitted to the local government his report in 2015 but it was not implemented. During the proposed environment summit, the master plan will be presented to the stakeholders” to inform them of its content, Graf said.

Graf has been pursuing an environment summit months prior to the 2016 election.

She is also proposing a P25 additional environment fee for tourists, on top of the P75 environmental fee being charged to tourists visiting Boracay.

DENR ‘tokhang’ in Boracay

Taking the cue from the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has launched its own version of “tokhang” (Bisaya for “knock and plead”) in Boracay Island, Aklan.

DENR Regional Director Jim Sampulna told Manila Bulletin that his office is launching on Monday “Dalaw-Turo,” a grassroots campaign to curb degradation of the country’s number one beach destination.

Teams from DENR-Aklan, Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) will visit Boracay’s hotels, resorts, restaurants, shops, and households to ask stakeholders and residents to do their part in preserving what is left of Boracay.

Last month, DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu said Boracay is DENR’s top priority in Western Visayas.

Cimatu is calling for solutions to recurring environmental problems blamed on the island’s tourism industry. The issues include garbage management, wastewater treatment, ensuring safe water quality, and regulated development.

The Malay town government, which has jurisdiction over Boracay, is proposing to raise the environmental fee charged tourists from P75 to P100.

Councilor Nenette Aguirre-Graf said the additional P25 will be used to buy reusable  canvass bags for the trash discarded by tourists.

The DENR is giving the Malay government until July 17 to remove an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 kilos of trash from Boracay.

Hybrid wave energy for PHL marine transport pushed

A seafarer-turned-businessman is asking the government’s support for his proposal for a wave energy to be implemented in the Philippine marine-transportation sector.

Engr. Jonathan Salvador, owner of a shipyard in Barangay Lagatik, New Washington, Aklan, said in an interview with the BusinessMirror on Tuesday that he is asking the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to support his proposal. He said his idea of hybrid wave energy has been endorsed by the College of Fisheries and Marine Sciences of the Aklan State University (ASU) based in this town.

The ASU has endorsed Salvador’s idea to the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD) of the DOST.

The proposal is dubbed as the “Development of a Hybrid Fast Craft Passenger and Cargo Vessel Using Multi and Alternative Energy Source from Ocean Waters”.

“In my proposal, we will be using gas to start the engine. Then, when the vessel is in the middle of the sea, we will be using wave energy. We will be using the Trimaran Model, an innovation of the Filipino traditional motorboat,” Salvador said, adding that the boat is safe and environment-friendly.

Salvador said he has finished preparing a module for the wave-energy concept, but could not release it to the public yet for intellectual property-rights issues.

“I am confident with my concept because I have already shown it to my European counterparts,” he said.

He explained that wave energy is feasible being a renewable energy.

“As the vessel runs into the sea, it creates friction. We could use the friction generated to create electricity. As the vessel runs through the smooth sea, the ship captain can have an option to use gas or navigate the boat to create additional friction. The boat could also run faster compared to traditional boats,” he told the BusinessMirror.

With the Philippines as an archipelago, the use of wave energy is feasible, and the boats could travel short distances for a start.

In 2002 Salvador said he has written a letter to then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for the implementation of the Strong Republic Nautical Highway (SRNH), which was acknowledged by Malacanang.

In 2003 Arroyo opened the SRNH, connecting islands for tourism and trade. The SRNH policy was formulated in the time of President Fidel V. Ramos.

Engr. Nonilo Peña, chief of the Science Research Specialist, Energy and Utilities Systems Technology Development Division of PCIEERD, has written a letter to ASU, dated April 21, indicating that the proposal for the use of wave energy has passed the initial screening for the PCIEERD Special Call for Proposal for 2016.

Peña has recommended to ASU that Salvador and the university provide a more comprehensive discussion on the current marine-transport scenario, and include statistical data, provide a concept design and indicate the raw materials to be used in the hull.

He added the proponent should consult with the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, or at least a naval architect, as part of the project team.

“I had already complied with all such requirements. I was told that the PCIEERD may release its decision to my proposal this June or July,” Salvador said.

“There is a huge potential in the research and use of wave energy, since it is now starting research,” Salvador added.

Salvador has worked for 20 years with a Norwegian shipping company. He later decided to put up a shipyard in the province that repairs boats mostly from the island of Boracay.

He received the Outstanding Aklanon Award in 2009 for his ingenuity in the field of marine transport.

Italian man quizzed over bomb joke at Kalibo airport

(photo courtesy of Barangay 92,9 FM)

A 40-year-old Italian man has been questioned by the police after joking he has a bomb inside his baggage while at the pre-departure area of the Kalibo International Airport, Wednesday afternoon.

In a police blotter report, Aviation Security (AVSEC) officials identified the suspect as Christiano De Angeliz.

Based on AVSEC investigation, Angeliz was at the departure area asking to rebook his flights. But the foreigner, felt disappointed when he was informed by the attendant there was a rebooking fee, he felt disappointed.

The airport attendant identified as Christine Rose Teodosio then asked Angeliz a security question of "what was inside his baggage". It was then that Angeliz reportedly responded that there's a bomb inside.

During this time, Teodosio gave Angeliz his boarding pass to supposedly board the plane to Metro Manila. A few minutes after, Teodosio realized that he received a bomb joke causing her to call the attention of the police security officials.

AVSEC officials then went inside the departure area and invited Angeliz for questioning.

The AVSEC is currently studying the filing of criminal complaints against Angeliz for violating the bomb joke law in Philippine airports.

Aklan PNP: Maute family in Boracay shuns terrorism in Marawi

A Maute family in this resort island has shunned terrorism in Marawi City and has pledged cooperation to the Aklan Provincial Police Office (APPO.)

SPO1 Nida Gregas-Lachica, information officer of the APPO, in an interview on Thursday said the Maute family has recently coordinated with the Boracay Philippine National Police to clarify themselves.

"The family has been living in Boracay as a trader for the past eight years. They also testified that they are not connected to the Maute in Marawi," Gregas said.

A Maute family is being pinpointed by the military in Marawi to have pledged alliance to the ISIS together with the Abu Sayyaf Group. Some of the Maute families in Metro Manila and other parts of the country had been questioned relative to their possible connections to the terrorists.

Meanwhile, Gregas said that the APPO has also monitored four families who evacuated from the Marawi City.

"They arrived in Barangay Aquino, Ibajay Aklan on May 28 around 11:00 p.m. They had relatives there. Both the provincial and municipal offices of the Department of Social Welfare and Development had provided initial assistance to the evacuees," Gregas said.

It was gathered that the head of the family is a resident of Marawi and has since been working in the Commission of Audit.

"Two of the four families will be going back to Iligan City this weekend. The two others are planning to stay for good in the province for the education of their children," Gregas said.

Both the Maute in Boracay and evacuees from Marawi City underwent profiling by the police.

Aklan SP to form 'Task Force: Protect'

The Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Aklan is eyeing the formation of task force to provide security in this resort island.

Provincial board member Jay Tejada, member of the committee on laws and ordinances, said Wednesday that the task force will be named "Task Force: Protect" and will include the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine Coast Guard, and the local government, among others.

"The technical draft is still at the committee level. The legislation is aimed to provide necessary details for the rule of engagement of the task force," said Tejada.

The piece of legislation is being crafted to update Boracay's security amid global terrorism scare.

Boracay official calls for vigilance

An official of this island called on the hotel industry and the public to remain vigilant after the recent attack at Resorts World Manila in Pasay City.

Rowen Aguirre, island administrator, said the attack can happen anywhere including Boracay.

“We are currently studying the incident at Resorts World, how it happened and how it could be prevented in the future,” Aguirre said.

Aguirre also chairs a local joint task force here composed of the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the Philippine Coast Guard, among others.

He said Boracay hotel owners are wary of possible tourism industry loss once a terrorist act is not prevented in the resort-island.

But according to intelligence sources, there is no terror threat in Boracay as of the moment.

On Friday morning, a lone gun man entered Resorts World Manila. He fired shots from an assault rifle and set gambling tables on fire.

As of this writing, 37 people were killed in the incident.