Senate starts probe on Boracay environmental woes

BORACAY, Aklan —Concerned Senate committees began on Friday their joint probe into the environmental woes plaguing the famous Boracay island resort, which President Rodrigo Duterte earlier described as a “cesspool” and threatened to shut down.

Senate panels comprising the joint probe include the committees on environment and natural resources, tourism, local government, and finance.

Senators Cynthia Villar,  Nancy Binay, Loren Legarda, Joel Villanueva, and Juan Miguel Zubiri were among those present at the start of Friday's inquiry.

Also in attendance were Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo, Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Frank Cimatu, Interior and Local Government officer-in-charge Eduardo Año, Aklan Governor Florencio Miraflores and other local officials, business owners, and people’s organizations.

In her opening statement, Villar, who chairs the Senate committee on environment, said she wanted to hear the report of the government agencies and the list of compliant and non-compliant business establishments.

Also, she said that the senators will try to determine whether Boracay should be closed or allowed to remain open.

For his part, Zubiri said there is a need to create a Boracay Development Authority to handle the island resort.

“With due respect to the local officials pero parang hindi na nila kaya, [the] national government has to step in, a master plan has to be implemented,” he said in his opening remarks.

Earlier, Senator Villar said she is not amenable to the plan to close Boracay for 60 days while the government is fixing its environmental problems.

However, she said she favors the shutting down of non-compliant establishments. 

"OK lang isara 'yung mga hindi nagko-comply pero yung mga compliant bakit mo naman paparusahan. Parang gusto ko 'yung hindi compliant 'yun ang ipasara." 

Villar and other government officials conducted an ocular inspection on the problematic areas on the island resort prior to the start of the probe. —LBG, GMA News