Shutting down Boracay

WE have to admit it, it is a cesspool. The hint of ammonia in the air while you walk the powder fine white sand should give you an idea that there is indeed a problem, a problem that has long been raised to the attention of the government, but which no one had the balls to do something about.

As a result, the tourist destination is now full beyond its carrying capacity, and because they were allowed to be sloppy about it, no one, not even the multi-billion properties really cared about their sewage.

Duterte saw that and would not let that pass.

“Now, during days when I was there, ‘yung basura was just 20 meters away from the beach,” he said during last week’s Manila Times Financial Forum held at the Marco Polo Hotel Davao, further describing Boracay as a cesspool.

“At a distance you see a… cotton balls of Boracay its white sand. But you go into the water, it’s smelly. Smell of what? S***,:” he said, and the reason is because this island destination never emphasized the need for a working and appropriate sewerage system that will keep the sewage off its waters.

Porous as island soil is, the tons and tons of sewage from all establishments there all find their way to the sea.

“There will be a time that no more foreigner will go there because he will have — when he goes back to the plane to where he belongs, he will be full of s*** going back and forth to the restroom,” the President said.

In the same forum, he said he has given Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy A. Cimatu six months to clean up Boracay. It’s going to be a tough order to implement, but Cimatu knows it has to be done. The Environment Secretary has worked with the President when he was still the mayor and Cimatu a military man, they know each other well enough.

We can only rejoice that a President has pointed out the sorry state Boracay is in, sacrificing tourist receipts to ensure that tourism development is sustainable and not at the expense of the environment. No one dared before simply because of the huge contribution the island gives in terms of foreign tourist receipts. By now, we should know better with this President who just wants to get things done right.

That having been brought out to the open, all other tourist destinations on vulnerable landscapes should follow suit. There should never be any shortcuts on the facilities and utilities that will be set in place. Most especially the sewage.

These island destinations were pristine in the years of yore simply because there were just the locals and a very rustic environment. Bring in tourists by the thousands, even millions, then you have just as much sewage.

This is where local governments have to weigh in the carrying capacity and ensure that this is not exceeded in some people’s greed for profit. Tourism is to bring livelihood and development, but not at the expense of the “goose that lays the golden egg”, in this case, the pristine and nature-endowed destination. Tourism is to bring livelihood and development but not to the extent of depriving the next generation of what they should be enjoying as well.— Sunnex