DENR lifts Station 1 temporary closure
Following the temporary closure of some parts of the Boracay shoreline after some foreigners allegedly let their children defecate on parts of the beach, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said that the affected areas are now open.
The closure was triggered by a viral video of a foreigner allowing her child to foul up Boracay waters with human waste, which led authorities to cordon-off a 100-meter wide section of the beach in Station 1 on Wednesday.
DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu announced that the area reopened on 4 p.m. Thursday after fecal coliform test results revealed that the waters there were “almost perfect,” said Cimatu, adding that the “isolated” defecation incident serves as a “wake-up call” for vacationers.
Undersecretary Benny Antiporda, on the other hand, revealed that the DENR will ask the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force to consider putting up public toilets near the beach as private establishments might not allow non-paying customers to use their facilities.
In line with the incident, Boracay officials on Thursday said they would step up their information campaign on the “do’s and don’ts” for tourists visiting the island in the wake of the defecation incident.
“This move should send a strong message to local and foreign tourists to uphold the government’s advocacy for sustainable tourism and to observe the rules and regulations being implemented while enjoying the island paradise,” said Natividad Bernardino, director of the Boracay Inter-Agency Rehabilitation Management Group (BIARMG) in an earlier statement.
Bernardino noted that the BIARMG is considering new measures for tourists to comply with rules and regulations in Boracay, particularly the anti-littering ordinance that prohibits littering, urinating, defecating, spitting and dumping trash in public places.
“We are planning to give pamphlets through the airline on the do’s and don’ts on the island especially on the proper way to throw garbage and the policy against defecation at the Boracay beach,” said Bernardino.
The official added that they are also mulling the inclusion of other foreign languages for signages against littering, smoking and carrying glass bottles.
“Majority of the foreign visitors are from China and South Korea,” Bernardino noted.
“Considering the great proportion of Chinese and Korean visitors relative to the total number of Boracay’s visitors, we should now perhaps include the Chinese and Korean languages in the signage, which presently carry warnings only in English.”