DENR forms team to check on Panglao waste management

THE DEPARTMENT of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has formed a regional investigating team in Panglao, Bohol to monitor waste management, especially along the island’s shorelines amid the government’s crackdown on environmental law violations. This comes after President Rodrigo R. Duterte threatened to shut down establishments in Boracay that have been illegally dumping their untreated waste water into the sea. DENR Secretary Roy A. Cimatu, in a statement, said that “[w]hat happened to Boracay is a wake-up call.” DENR Region 7 Director Gilbert C. Gonzales said the investigation team will check on the garbage disposal systems, and sewage and waste water facilities of each establishment along the coastal areas. We [also] have to look into the land classification of these areas to make sure that public owned or forestlands are not occupied by illegal settlers or illegal structures built and operated by local or foreign business owners,” he added. —