Boracay: From cesspool to DENR showcase

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) hopes to use Boracay as instructional material to tell the world what environmental destruction and efforts to reverse it could bring.

Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu said he expected to tell a good story about Boracay’s rehabilitation during its six-month closure to tourism.

In a statement, he said Boracay’s case showed “how neglect and blatant disregard of environmental laws lead to destruction.”

Stop ocean destruction

The DENR, he said, hoped to turn Boracay into a showcase of rehabilitation when the Philippines host the East Asian Seas (EAS) Congress in November.

The regional conference, set in Iloilo, would bring together representatives of countries working to stop ocean and coastal area destruction through “sustainable management and use of marine resources,” the DENR said.

Cimatu said protecting ocean health was given deeper meaning in the Philippines by the Boracay case.

After describing Boracay as a cesspool, Mr. Duterte ordered the island closed for six months through Proclamation No. 475, declaring a state of calamity in the island villages of Manoc-Manoc, Balabag and Yapak in the municipality of Malay, Aklan.

The DENR said it was implementing a program that would address Boracay’s environmental woes—fixing its sewage and solid waste problems, removing illegal structures and clearing road easements.

193 countries

The Philippines, Cimatu said, was honored to host the EAS Congress 2018.

The conference would draw from commitments and calls for action made at last year’s United Nations Ocean Conference held in New York and attended by representatives of 193 countries. —Melvin Gascon