DENR urged: Clarify Boracay sewage policy

ILOILO CITY — Stakeholders at Boracay in Aklan are calling on the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to clarify its directive compelling resorts and hotels to install their own sewage treatment plant (STPs).

“We have yet to hear comprehensive guidelines in the STP memo including notably the manner of conveyance, as well as the pre-treatment facilities for treated wastewater,” said business group Boracay Foundation Inc. (BFI) in a statement.

Late last June, DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu issued a memorandum requiring beachfront hotels and resorts with more than 50 rooms to install individual STPs, and those with less than 50 rooms to have clustered STPS.

“Constructing their own STPs for beachfront establishments pose an additional burden to stakeholders and compliance requirements that will again delay the upgrading and rehabilitation in an already struggling community,” BFI pointed out.

Jonathan Cabrera, a former Malay town councilor who authored the Boracay Island Comprehensive Wastewater Management Ordinance 2012-307, said the DENR memos were contradictory.

Cabrera got a copy of the memorandum signed by DENR and Boracay Tubi System Inc. (BTSI). The memo cites the municipal ordinance Cabrera authored.

“But the ordinance only requires establishments that are located more than 61 meters from any available sewer line to construct its own STPs,” Cabrera told Manila Bulletin in a phone interview.

Both BTSI and the Boracay Island Water Company (BIWC) have existing plants that are supposed to treat wastewater from hotels and resorts.

With less than two months before the scheduled reopening of Boracay to tourists, the installation of STPs is one of the many requirements that must be complied with by Boracay establishments before they are allowed to reopen.

“Business don’t have a choice, but to get the services of BTSI if they want to reopen by October 26,” Cabrera said.

BFI also pointed out that an STP could cost 12 million or even more.

“Constructing an STP is not cheap, but money is not the issue here. Instead, it is the principle of following what is stated in the law: if not the government, then this responsibility falls into the laps of the water providers,” BFI said.

Cabrera also hit DENR for signing into an agreement with BTSI, which can build STPs provided businesses agree sign up for its services for a 10-year period.

“Why is DENR giving preference to BTSI? This seems like a package deal,” Cabrera said.