Boracay, what now?

WHEN John F. Kennedy announced to the world that the United States was going to send a man to the moon, he (and NASA) had no clue how it was going to happen. The impending six-month closure of our premier tourist destination, Boracay Island, seems to be operating on a similar theme. President Duterte already decided on the closure, based on recommendations by the DILG, DENR and DoT, yet there is no clear-cut plan on how to get this done.

At this point, the problems in Boracay are so complex and convoluted, that solving them is really not too far from rocket science and human lunar landing. We all know that Neil Armstrong made it to the moon. This is comforting evidence that creating visions in the dark may actually come to fruition. Yet, on closer study, the moon project seems to display considerable advantages over cleaning up Boracay. For one, JFK gave them a decade to complete the task. President Duterte gives them six months. Furthermore, the moon landing bore no consequence on any industry, nor the lives of Americans. It was an add-on. If NASA failed, it would have brought nothing more than a blow to the US’ image as a major world superpower.

Unfortunately, Boracay is more sensitive than that. Every month, non-operation of its tourism industry costs about P5 billion. Not only does this drastically cut off a

tourists; it affects about 30,000 jobs of Boracay locals. Just the process of closing Boracay itself will cause definite bleeding for businesses and families alike. Failure to achieve anything within the six-month time period will most likely lead to the demise of the second largest tourist destination in the country.

This elevates solving Boracay to a matter of national socio-economic

destination of which branding and image are inevitably tied to the rest of the country. Tourism contributes about 9 percent to the GDP and 13 percent of all jobs nationwide.

Having illustrated how Boracay matters to us Filipinos, the relevant question becomes – how can we make sure that Boracay does not fall through the cracks? Let us remember that this is not

a clean-up of Boracay. There have been far too many task forces and directives, all of which have faded into the sunset with time.

Before we can hope for any real plan of action, we have to get a good understanding of the problems at hand. The tourism committee of the House of Representatives, headed by Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez, offers a sensible and organized analysis of the problems and possible solutions to Boracay. The spotlight on Boracay was partly the result of hearings conducted by this committee in

by Rep. Edgar Mary Sarmiento. In its report, the committee categorizes the problems into: a) high risk issues, b) immediate enforcement issues, and 3) systemic sustainable tourism issues. This approach provides more clarity on the urgency of the problems, and therefore a practical starting point for a goal-oriented plan of action. The committee supports a closure of Boracay, but only

solid strategic direction.

If there is any one goal that needs to be achieved in the six-month closure of Boracay, it should be the shutdown of the drainage pipes oozing brown waste water into the

contamination of the beaches as the highest risk issue, with e. coli counts as high as 2,400 MPN per 100 ml, against the acceptable level of 200. News and images of Boracay in this state, have already spread internationally, and have begun to affect

is, of course, on top of the health hazards to both tourists and locals, and the environmental degradation of the surrounding sea life.

The DENR, DILG and DoT must prioritize and work together to put an end to beach contamination. Yes, the 25+5-meter easement violations and forestland encroachment are also a huge problem. But in my opinion as a sustainability

consultant, these are simply enforcement issues. The burning issue is how to stop four known drainage pipes from discharging wastewater into the sea.

There are several ways to attack this problem. The most glaring issue is that out of 6,000 water accounts of Boracay Island Water Company (BIWC), only 1,000 or so have subscribed to a sewerage service. Treated wastewater from BIWC’s sewerage treatment plants (STP) is released with a SB water quality, which is safe for recreation and

business establishments refuse to pay more for this service, claiming that they have in-house sewerage treatment facilities; i.e. septic tanks. Some even claim to have DENR permits to discharge their “treated” water into the public drainage pipes, which are designed solely for rain

be a direct order from the president to simply mandate the subscription of sewerage service. Yes, this adds to resort operating costs, but frankly, that is the price to pay to operate in a tiny paradise island. Connecting about 5,000 accounts to the sewerage lines would already take about four to six months.

Assuming that BIWC gets to 100 percent subscription to its sewerage system, this is still no guarantee that the brown water discharging into the beach is going to magically clear up. Perhaps this may reduce the coliform counts by half. We have to note that BIWC is not the only water supplier on the island, and there are residences and establishments that are simply beyond the reach of the current systems in place.

Failure in enforcing laws in Boracay have been going on for at least 20 years. Enforcement falls under the LGUs and DENR. It is about time that individuals responsible for

held accountable and brought to justice. It seems very dubious that the names of LGU heads and local and regional DENR personnel have been conveniently insulated from this hot stew of problems.

What’s more puzzling is that the DENR is tasked to clean up its own mess. If auto-regulation was not already a problem, then we would not be having all these 25+5 and watershed violations. Clearly, we need an oversight body that is not predisposed to hiding and ignoring its own mistakes.

One of the salient points made by the tourism committee is the disaggregation of existing laws and regulations pertaining to sustainable tourism. Additionally, there is a disparity in legal hierarchies as a few are sections of republic acts, others are presidential decrees and proclamations, executive orders, DENR administrative orders, memorandum orders, and municipal ordinances. Torres-Gomez pragmatically calls

that would govern all matters on

House Bill 7229, An Act Integrating and Establishing Pertinent Policies and Regulations to Ensure Sustainability of the Philippine Tourism Industry, also to be known as the Philippine Sustainable Tourism Act.

This calls for the convention of relevant stakeholders into a Sustainable Tourism Council to review and consolidate all existing laws and create other necessary laws, institute a dependable system of accountability and oversight, and mainstream

- tional and local government.

Tourism is our natural advantage. We did not ask nor strive to be a beautiful country, we just are—all 7,641 islands. It is a moral responsibility to maintain and sustain this beauty for future generations. But the task is double-edged and does not come without penalty. A failure to clean up Boracay will bring down a critical industry and will hurt us more than we imagine today.