Labor groups ask Duterte, 'Freeze Boracay closure plan’

Amid apprehensions on possible employment displacement, labor groups in Western Visayas plan to ask President Rodrigo Duterte to hold in abeyance the plan to close Boracay Island in Aklan to address environmental woes hounding the region’s top tourist destination.

Wennie Sancho, General Alliance of Workers Association (Gawa) secretary general, said the group is drafting a resolution asking the President to reconsider the planned closure which may affect almost 19,000 workers.

Of the figure, some 17,735 are registered workers while the remaining number comprise members of the informal sector like transportation and micro scale enterprise.  

Sancho said the appeal is also supported by the Philippine Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial Workers Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (Paciwu-TUCP) and other labor leaders in Western Visayas, who attended the wage consultation in Bacolod City on Wednesday.

“We fear that there will be job displacement and economic dislocation if the closure will push through,” he said, asking that “what will happen to these thousands of workers and their families?”

Duterte earlier warned that the island will be closed off if environmental problems are not resolved in six months.

Earlier this week, the Department of Tourism (DOT) temporarily stopped the processing of new and expiring accreditation certificates of establishments that do not comply with environmental laws.

Sancho, also a labor representative to the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) in Region 6, said they will submit the said resolution to the Office of the President as soon as possible.

They are also submitting the same letter to the Regional Development Council (RDC) in Western Visayas to solicit support.

The labor leader asserted that the establishments that violate environmental laws should be punished, but those complaint should be spared.

“We are making this appeal to prevent the irreparable damage that would take place if Boracay should be closed,” he said.

DOT Region 6 Director Helen Catalbas earlier supported the claim that there could be a slump in the tourism industry that would have a negative impact on employment.

Catalbas added that most of the workers on the island are from other places like Negros, Cebu, Manila and other provinces in Luzon.

“We will soon start coordinating with local government units in the region as to how many can they absorb if incase establishments in Boracay will lay off employees,” she added.

Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) Region 6 Director Johnson Cañete supported the claim of the labor sector that at there are about 17,000 workers in Boracay based on the data obtained by the agency from the Public Employment Service Office of Malay, Aklan.

Cañete opined that if the closure would be this “drastic” then the unemployment rate in the region would surely increase.

He, however, said the agency can extend assistance to displaced Boracay employees including profiling of workers through a quick response team, facilitate employment in other provinces under other tourism and hotel management services, allow workers to group themselves and provide livelihood, and provide emergency employment for 10 to 30 days.

“Though it may result to job displacement, we still have to abide by the decision of the President,” he said, adding that it is good that environmental issues are being addressed to also ensure sustainability of resources.

For workers' protection, the labor and employment agency official pointed out the need to set standards as to closing establishments on the island to avoid total employment displacement.

“Those on the verge of complying can be given more time to comply while those blatantly violating laws should be given outright punishments,” he added. — BAP, GMA News