DENR reviewing deal with upscale resort in Boracay

Iloilo City — The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is reviewing an agreement it entered with a controversial high-end resort operating in a purported no-build zone in Boracay, the country’s top tourist destination.

Regional Director Julian Amador told the Inquirer on Monday that the agency’s regional forestry division was investigating Boracay West Cove for violations of the Forest Land use Agreement for Tourism Purposes (FLAgT).

A FLAgT, under DENR Administrative Order 2004-59, allows the temporary use, occupation and development of any forest land for tourism purposes for a period of 25 years and renewable for the same period.

It covers forest land to be used for bathing, camp sites, ecotourism destinations, hotel sites and other tourism-related purposes.

“We are reviewing the FLAgT if it is inconsistent with the zoning plan of the local government unit,” Amador said.

The results of the investigation would be released next week, he said.

On Friday, the local government of Malay town, which has jurisdiction over Boracay, ordered the closure of Boracay West Cove for lack of business, building and occupancy permits.

In an earlier interview, Crisostomo Aquino, the resort owner, questioned the closure order, saying it violated the FLAgT.

The DENR under then Secretary Jose Atienza issued the agreement in 2009 despite calls from business groups to stop the resort’s operation for building structures on rock formations and other violations.

Amador said there were clear provisions in the FLAgT, including the location and type of structures to be built. /INQUIRER