Boracay rehab projects to continue even after Duterte’s term
UNFINISHED BUSINESS | In this photo taken on May 3, 2018, a week after the six-month closure of Boracay Island started, workers dismantle structures encroaching the road easement. Nearly four years later, the rehabilitation of the island is still unfinished. (Photo by NESTOR P. BURGOS JR. / Inquirer Visayas)
ILOILO CITY, Iloilo, Philippines — Several rehabilitation projects on Boracay Island will be continued after President Rodrigo Duterte steps down on June 30.
The projects will be implemented by concerned government agencies since the term of office of the Duterte-created Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force (BIATF), which manages the island’s rehabilitation, will end also in June, according to Martin Jose Despi, general manager of the Boracay Inter-Agency Rehabilitation and Management Group, the implementing body of the task force.
Despi said among the major rehabilitation projects that would still be completed was the clearing of structures encroaching on the beachfront, the main road and on forest lands.
The BIATF is targeting the removal of 38 remaining structures encroaching on the 30-meter beach easement by June.
These include seven commercial properties, six big residential structures, and 25 houses by local inhabitants.
Around 158 structures encroaching on the road easement along the island’s circumferential road have yet to be removed. These are mostly residential structures along the road from City Mall to Barangay Yapak, Despi said.
The City Mall-Yapak road section is under Phase 4 of the rehabilitation of the 21.64-kilometer circumferential road, costing P1.94 billion.
The circumferential road is the main access connecting the three villages of the island—Manoc-Manoc, Balabag and Yapak. Phase 3 was completed last month while Phase 4 is targeted to be completed in 2023.
Despi said unfinished projects will be implemented by various agencies and by the local governments — the municipality of Malay and Aklan province — when the BIATF’s term ends.
The BIATF was formed to supervise Boracay’s rehabilitation in 2018. Its term was supposed to end in May 2020 but Mr. Duterte extended it twice until June 30.
Bida issue still unresolved
The creation of the controversial Boracay Island Development Authority (Bida), intended to replace the BIATF as a permanent body, is still pending in Congress. The House of Representatives last year approved a bill that provides for the creation of Bida as a corporate body but counterpart bills are still pending in the Senate.
The Bida bill is being opposed by Aklan officials and various sectors because it will create a government-owned and-controlled corporation with corporate powers.
Boracay Island was closed to tourists from April 26 to Oct. 25, 2018, to undergo rehabilitation after Mr. Duterte called the island-resort a “cesspool” due to problems on pollution, unregulated development and other environmental concerns.
During the closure, thousands of workers and residents lost their jobs or livelihood. Many businesses shut down or suspended operations.
The island had just recovered when it was closed to tourists several times over the course of two years since March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The island has reopened since the start of the year to fully vaccinated travelers and has been bursting at the seams with tourists eager to resume leisure travel held back by the pandemic.
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