Boracay task force adopts P25-B action plan to safeguard the island resort

The Boracay Action Plan, adopted by the government, will install safeguards from ecological degradation and sustain tourism activities in the island, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said Monday.

The programs and activities will be implemented on the heels of Boracay’s six-month closure period, which took place from April to October 2018.

“The Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force has adopted the P25-billion Medium-Term Boracay Action Plan, which lays out the proposed programs for the island’s rehabilitation,” NEDA said in a statement.

It was formally adopted on Dec. 21, 2018, covering a total of 233 programs, projects, and activities.

The proposed estimated total investment requirement for the plan is P25.27 billion, of which P16.21 billion or 64 percent will be allotted to infrastructure.

According to NEDA, the private sector will finance P15.89 billion or 62.9 percent of the total cost.

“It primarily provides the strategic interventions to ensure the island’s rehabilitation over the medium- term and sustainable management over the long term,” said NEDA Undersecretary Adoracion Navarro.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia estimated last year that Boracay’s six-month closure would incur as much as P1.96 billion in economic losses.

After the world-famous island resort reopened in October, tourist arrivals were been limited to only 6,405 per day and only 19,000 tourists were allowed at any given time.

President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the six-month closure of the island to make way for an ecological rehabilitation starting April 26. The ecological rehabilitation was recommended by the DENR, the DOT, and the DILG after Duterte threatened to close down the island and called it a “cesspool.”