Villar: Senate to shed role in deciding fate of Boracay

Senator Cynthia Villar. CATHY MIRANDA / INQUIRER.net

The Senate committee on environment looking into alleged violations of environmental laws in Boracay will now keep its hands off on the issue of whether or not to shut down the island, its chair Senator Cynthia Villar said on Tuesday.

The committee will resume its hearing next week but Villar said the focus would be on a possible legislation to ensure that Boracay would be managed well.

“Ang hearing namin is not whether to open or close Boracay because it’s obvious that the executive will decide what they will do with Boracay. Kami ang hearing namin will be ano yung mangyayari sa kanila and may be pass a legislation,” she said in an interview at the Senate.

Villar said they would file a bill that would create a Boracay administration, where the management of the island would be shared by the national and local government.

“So yung aming role sa Boracay will be legislation. Hindi na kami makkiaalam whether to open or to close Boracay but we will try to solve the problem long term by passing a legislation how to manage Boracay well,” she said.

The senator said they would also leave it up to concerned government agencies like the Department of Interior and Local Government and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to go after officials and offices responsible for the environmental problems on the island.

Three agencies — the DILG, the DENR, and the Department of Tourism (DOT) have already endorsed a six-month closure of Boracay to allow for its clean up and rehabilitation but President Rodrigo Duterte has yet to approve the recommendation.

READ: Palace asks agencies to submit ‘more detailed memo’ on Boracay shut down       /muf