"How do we ensure inclusivity and sustainability on the island?"
The world-famous Boracay Island, described by the prestigious travel and leisure magazine Conde Nast Traveler as “this itty-bitty island..as close to a tropical island idyll as you’ll find in Southeast Asia” and voted by its readers as the world’s best island in 2017, will reopen as scheduled on Oct. 26. Boracay was ordered closed for a six month cleanup last May by President Duterte after declaring it a cesspool. The inter-agency task force—headed by DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu—overseeing the operation has categorically stated it will stick to that time line.
But it will not be as completely open as it was before when Boracay was transformed into what many described as a wild wild west type of tourist destination, where cash was king and anything goes as long as the moolah was available, and not even when tell tale signs of environmental and yes, social, degradation were already apparent.
In a span of less than a decade, the built-up area in the island more than doubled even as local authorities were told that a good part of the island was porous and standing on a cave system which stretched for miles.
Environmental guidelines were routinely ignored as evidenced by buildings on top of wetlands and the beach area almost at the water lines. The island’s sewerage and drainage system was all but left out overwhelmed as it were with the skyrocketing tourist arrivals.
All kinds of tourists and interlopers got in and did their thing. Never mind that the island’s ecosystem and carrying capacity can only accommodate so much human activity and intrusion. Not only that. While all kinds of developers were in their buccaneering ways, the island’s original settlers were left to their own devices. This was, of course, unacceptable. That ignoble situation prompted President Duterte’s threat to declare the entire island as a land reform area and give it back to the original inhabitants and their benefactors—the families and friends who tried to keep it as pristine a place as possible—to rehabilitate.
That threat has since been tempered upon word that then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo actually delineated the island’s land use in accordance with a Supreme Court decision on a petition lodged by certain property owners in early 2000s on the alleged “illegal titling situation” in the area.
In any event, the reopening of the island has been classified by the task force as a soft opening. It correctly said that it will probably take another 18 to 24 months before the island can truly be considered as on its way to sustainable development as a world-class tourist destination. And what would such a sustainable development plan incorporate? Those indicators are what the 10-day dry run starting last Monday, Oct. 15, attempts to highlight and correct if needed.
Land use is the first hurdle. A 30-meter easement from the high water line on the beachfront has been strictly imposed to ensure that no build up, whether permanent or temporary, is done. Then, the areas where any and buildings, structures or construction of any kind, should be properly established with the appropriate tenurial instruments. Are these privately owned and titled? Leased? Merely accommodated? These are the issues which will have to be resolved to ensure that no structure is illegally in place.
Then, the water and sewerage systems. To ensure that Boracay’s water, whether in the beach, the wetlands or the buildings are compliant with the Clean Water Act, all structures must be connected to a sewer line. Owners of commercial establishments must establish their own sewage treatment facility.
Next are the road network and transport system to ease the traffic flow and ensure that only accredited transport, land or water, operators, ply the allowed routes. The road network has not only been expanded and rerouted to ease the transport of people and goods. It has been set up to a point that the utilities will be somehow “out of sight” like modern destinations.
Then, the wetlands and other environmentally protected areas. The task force had to take over a number of wetlands and protected areas including the famous Puka Beach which were already being built on in the frenzy accompanying the tourist rush a decade or so ago. With the help of NGOs and the private sector, these wetlands and protected areas will be brought back to their original state and serve their roles in a sustainable ecosystem.
Then, the communications, protection and health services including disaster preparedness system. Before the clean up, there was a spotty system for such a critical component of a world-class tourist destination. That is a hurdle which will take some time to work. We hope it will be in place within the 18- to 24-month period which the task force has imposed on itself to make it part of a sustainable environment for residents and tourists.Then, the governance system. Boracay being merely a barangay of Malay was under the administration control of the municipality. Thus, for all intents and purposes, it was managed or should we say mismanaged by local officials. Given the nature of local politics and development in this country, everything was very tactical. Thus, given the very limited view of the island’s development by the administrators, there was clearly a mis-appreciation of the strategic importance of this “itty bitty” island not only to the local economy and the tourism industry but to the country as a whole. In a sense, they treated Boracay as just another barangay albeit bringing in millions of pesos to the local coffers.
That will now be reformed as the task force has proposed a Cabinet-level supervisory body to govern its affairs and that, as DILG Secretary Ano said, of other critically important tourist destinations. This effort will now be in sync with the earlier order of Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat to declare these destinations specially the islands as tourism zones subjected to the stringent requirements but given incentives to ensure their sustainability as such destinations.
Finally, the most important and critical consideration: How to ensure that Boracay’s development will be inclusive and closely associated with the welfare and aspirations of all the people which make the island a truly livable and world class community—the residents, tourists, original inhabitants, workers and business owners? As the task force intimated what is needed is a change in the culture, the mind set of all those who will, one way or the other, look at and ensure the sustainability of the New Boracay.
This early we await with bated breath and loads of good wishes the reopening and sustained development of Boracay—our gem of an island.
