The Boracay test
The recommended one-year closure of Boracay is a tough test of the political will of President Duterte. The clean-up of Boracay should have been done a long time ago.
Closing down Boracay for a year is an extremely tough decision to make. Thousands of workers dependent on Boracay will be out of jobs. Investors will lose millions, if not hundreds of millions, on capital spent to build up the tourism industry in Boracay. Boracay accounts for two million of the six million tourists we attract each year. Boracay reportedly brings in P56 billion in revenues too. Closing it completely for a year can damage the brand.
Jojo Clemente, president of the Tourism Congress of the Philippines, pointed out that it took one year to have Boracay included in the tour programs of foreign travel agencies and tour operators for 2018-2019. Tourists booked their Boracay tours and stay about a year in advance. “What will you tell them? Go to Cebu? Davao? What if they don’t like to go to those places because the contract between the guests and the travel agencies is for Boracay? So they go to Phuket instead, and the entire Philippines loses out,” Clemente warned in an interview with Business Mirror.
I am not sure such a drastic yearlong closure is necessary. Allowing the resorts that have no violations to continue operating is the right thing to do. Punishing the good and bad doesn’t seem right. Indeed, allowing the good guys to operate will deliver the message that Duterte will reward the good and punish the bad. That’s justice.
Anyway, the important test of the administration’s sincerity has to do with the resort that was built on a nobuild zone and has violated a number of other laws and regulations. Sen. Pacquiao told a television interview that he interceded with then DENR Sec. Joselito Atienza to grant that resort a permit and Atienza gave it.
To mark the earnest start of the Boracay clean up, Duterte should send in the Marines as he had announced, to blow up that massive illegal construction. Then measures must be taken to bring that area back to what it was supposed to be ... a forest and mangrove reserve.
But the stakeholders in Boracay shouldn’t be complaining too much about government’s drastic approach to fix what has gone wrong with the island. Most of them have abused Boracay over the years and ignored warnings that they are killing the island.
The inability of local government units to properly manage such an important tourist destination calls for the creation of a strong tourism authority to regulate such areas. We need to do the same thing for Boracay, Siargao, Panglao, El Nido, etc.
TIEZA or the Tourism Infrastructure Enterprise Zone Authority should be converted into an all powerful tourism authority to take away the responsibility of regulating tourism enterprises from LGUs. The municipality of Malay, Aklan which covers Boracay has proven itself to be incompetent and, most likely, corrupt.
The island’s carrying capacity should be considered. Maybe two million tourists a year is too much. A ban on new construction should be enforced. The construction of that fairly large DoubleDragon hotel should be stopped or moved to Caticlan on the mainland.
The role of government in the industry should be infrastructure development and regulation to include environmental concerns through a tourism authority. Tourism promotion should be left to the private sector. The private sector should invest in building up their business.
What Megawide is doing for Cebu is a good example. They earn more if more airlines go to Cebu and use Mactan airport. Airlines will go to Mactan if they have passengers. So Megawide launched tourism promotion drives in China, South Korea and Japan that is starting to deliver more flights and more tourists.
If government is focused on regulation rather than “promotional” junkets abroad, the Boracay problem could have been arrested sooner. Unless government acts urgently, the same problems will manifest in Panglao, Siargao, El Nido and Coron.
Panglao is about to make it to prime time with the inauguration this year of their very own international airport. Yet, the more popular and crowded beachfront areas in Panglao are showing the Boracay disease. The LGU there seems useless too.
Closing down Boracay for one year is probably too radical. For the long term, creating a powerful tourism authority is a move President Duterte ought to consider to make things right in the tourism industry so that the Boracay problem doesn’t happen again.
ROW problems
NGCP sent word they are ready to cooperate with the completion of the San Miguel connector road project. They have, in fact, bought the materials needed to relocate their posts. What they don’t have is right of way.
The steel poles, power conductors, insulators have arrived and are awaiting deployment, I am told. According to NGCP, the only reason things aren’t moving is because there were many notices of award revisions. Authorities keep on changing the sites NGCP will move to. Worse, any change in pole alignment may affect the pole line hardware NGCP is procuring.
The TRB-PNR MOA to allow NGCP pole relocation near the PNR tracks is ON HOLD. PNR wants to construct a new office in the Pandacan station area.
Apparently, DPWH is not to blame for this problem, but DOTr. The ROW problem is now between two government agencies, TRB and PNR, both under DOTr Sec. Art Tugade. Because of the delay, standby costs are being incurred and no one wants to assume responsibility.
It will be fair to say Sec. Tugade is delaying a vital infra project through his indecision. This is a project that will relieve some of our traffic problems, which is also Tugade’s responsibility. Hay naku! Secretary Tugade... Anuba? Hoy, Gising! Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is bchanco@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco