Task force turns over Boracay Island to Aklan local gov’ts

CLEANER BEACH | Tourists, in this photo taken on June 16, have been coming in droves to Boracay Island as travel restrictions ease. The Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force, also on June 16, turned over the island’s management to the local governments in Aklan, with water and beach quality vastly improved following four years of rehabilitation work. (Photo by IAN PAUL CORDERO)

ILOILO CITY, Iloilo, Philippines — The government body spearheading the rehabilitation of Boracay has formally turned over the management of its unfinished tasks on the island to the local governments in Aklan province.

In a ceremony on the island on June 16, the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force (BIATF) turned over the responsibility of the rehabilitation of the island to the Aklan provincial government and the municipal government of Malay, where the 1,032-hectare island is located.

“We will be turning over the responsibility to the [local government] but we will not stop monitoring all the rehabilitation projects we have implemented since the closure of Boracay,” Acting Environment Secretary Jim Sampulna told reporters.

Sampulna said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources would continue to monitor the rehabilitation of the island.

Also present during the turnover ceremony and activities were former Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, Aklan Gov. Florencio Miraflores, Acting Malay Mayor Frolibar Bautista and officials of the Department of Tourism and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

The BIATF, which was created in May 2018, will be dissolved when the term of President Rodrigo Duterte ends on June 30. The island was closed to tourists from April 26 to Oct. 25 in 2018 after Mr. Duterte described the island as a “cesspool” due to pollution.

Officials said the rehabilitation of the island had resulted in a cleaner and healthier island.

—NESTOR P. BURGOS JR.

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