Aklan town aspires to become city

ISLAND PARADISE Boracay Island, which continues to attract visitors amid the coronavirus pandemic, is the driver of the economic growth of Malay town in Aklan province, which now aspires to become a city. Tourists, like in this photo taken in December 2019, are expected to return in droves once restrictions are eased. —EDRA BENEDICTO

ILOILO CITY, Iloilo, Philippines — Aklan officials are pushing for the cityhood of Malay town, which has jurisdiction over the famous resort island, Boracay.

The Aklan provincial board passed a resolution on Feb. 8 endorsing the conversion of Malay, a first-class municipality, into a city. It urged Aklan Rep. Teodorico Haresco Jr. to file a bill on the proposed cityhood of Malay.

The municipal council earlier passed a resolution seeking endorsement of the conversion of the town into a component city.

If a law will be enacted converting Malay into a city, it will be the first for Aklan, which has 17 towns, including the capital Kalibo.

Malay has 17 villages, including three in Boracay, and is 72 kilometers northwest of Kalibo. It hosts the Godofredo P. Ramos Airport in Barangay Caticlan, which mainly caters to foreign and domestic tourists bound for Boracay.

The provincial board’s committee on laws, rules and ordinances has determined that Malay met two of the three requirements by the Local Government Code for conversion of a town to a city.

Malay has an average annual income of P165 million for the past two years, satisfying the required P100 million.

While it does not have the required contiguous land area of at least 100 square kilometers, the committee has determined that the town can still qualify because it is composed of two islands and islets. Its population, however, is short of the required 150,000 for a city.

At least 18 nongovernmental organizations are supporting the cityhood of Malay, according to a press statement released by the provincial board on Friday.

Endorsements

Aside from the move to cityhood, a bill is pending in Congress for the creation of the Boracay Island Development Authority, a regulatory and administrative body that will formulate and implement plans and programs with powers to issue and revoke permits.

President Duterte ordered the closure of the 1,032-hectare island for six months in April 2018 to undergo rehabilitation. The Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force, through the Boracay Inter-Agency Management Group, is supervising the rehabilitation.

The term of the task force ended in May 2020, but the President extended it for another year due to unfinished projects and activities.

—Nestor P. Burgos Jr.