THIS WEEK’S MILESTONES: Feb. 10 – 16, 2019

Feb. 10, 1998

The municipality of Urdaneta became a city by virtue of Republic Act No. 8480.

The law was later ratified in a plebiscite in March 1998.

According to historical records, Urdaneta was established when early migrants, mostly Ilocanos, petitioned the Spanish government to allow them to form a separate pueblo (town).

The petition was granted in January 1858. The major industry of Urdaneta, which had a population of 132,940 in 2015, is agriculture.

Feb. 13, 2018

Fifty-one establishments operating on Boracay Island were served notices for violating Chapter 5, Section 27 of the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act No. 9275, or the Clean Water Act of 2004.

Under the law, establishments and households are mandated to dispose of their septic waste through a treatment facility.

The notices of violation were issued to establishments that were illegally connected or not connected at all to the sewage treatment plant of Boracay Island Water Co.

The move came days after President Rodrigo Duterte called Boracay a “cesspool” and threatened to shut the island down.

It was eventually closed on April 26 last year for rehabilitation and was reopened on Oct. 26.

Compiled by Anne Barrientos, Inquirer Junior Intern; and Kathleen de Villa, Inquirer Research