PCCI confident Rody can solve Boracay issue

The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) is optimistic President Duterte will eventually resolve the Boracay controversy with fairness and wisdom.

“We are confident on President Duterte’s final call on the matter. After being given the facts, he will have all the information in his hands and that he will do what is right for our country’s tourism industry,” PCCI president Ma. Alegria Sibal-Limjoco said.

The country’s largest business organization earlier expressed opposition to a complete shutdown of the popular tourist destination and instead called on the government to implement a phase-by-phase closure and cleanup of facilities in Boracay.

President Duterte, in ordering the closure of Boracay, called the world famous island resort a cesspool.

PCCI said the government’s plan for a complete shutdown of the island starting April 26 would be detrimental to the local economy and the entire Philippine tourism industry.

The group is appealing to the government to exclude resorts and establishments that strictly followed environmental laws from the closure order.

PCCI’s proposed threephase closure of the island would involve closing one of any of the three entry points to the island at any one time to give way to a cleanup without causing much disruption to tourism and commerce, PCCI director for tourism Samie Lim explained.

The group said there are three possible major points of entry to Boracay island – the Cagban jetty port, currently Boracay’s main entry and exit point; an island near Shangri-La Resort in Punta Bunga and one near the Lapuz-Lapuz Beach facing the Sibuyan Sea.

“A three-phase geographic closure of the island is the best win-win solution to minimize the impact in the economic well-being of the various stakeholders, from airlines to travel agencies, hotels, restaurants and other tourist establishments, and the 17,000 direct employees in the travel and hospitality industry,” Lim said.

The PCCI said it is hoping the government would accept its invitation to a multi-stakeholder dialogue before finally deciding on its planned complete shutdown of Boracay.

Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has arrested in an entrapment operation five people illegally selling a protected forestland in Aklan.

Gina Yap Talapian, Lorelei Tarrosa, lawyer Jacqueline Anne Yao, Jason Lacson and Chuanlin Yang were presented to the media yesterday after their arrest at a Pasay City hotel last Tuesday.

They are facing syndicated estafa for selling 7,988 square meters of forestland in Barangay Balabag, Aklan, classified as inalienable land by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), according to the NBI AntiOrganized and Transnational Crime Division chief Dennis Siyhian.

The buyer, reportedly a resorts developer, was not identified.

The corporation sought the help of the NBI after the accused demanded a meeting for the payment of P7 million in arrears and an additional P500,000 for documentation fees on top of the P38.5-million downpayment. –