Boracay execs consider environmental fee hike

The local government officials of Malay, Aklan plans to impose higher environmental fees for tourists in Boracay to finance the garbage collection, according to a report by Joseph Morong in State of the Nation with Jessica Soho on Thursday.

The current P75 environmental fee may shoot up to P100 or P150 because the authorities have to pay its P34-million debt with the garbage collector.

"Nasa process na ngayon ang pag-aamend nung ordinansa," Malay, Aklan Acting Mayor Abram Sualog said. 

During the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force meeting on Thursday, the contractor for waste management informed the officials that garbage collection will stop after April 15 because the local government has failed to pay the company since December.

Local officials said they collected P21 million in environmental fees but the amount falls short of funds needed to implement the "zero waste" program on the island.

Last month, more than two million kilos of garbage were collected in Boracay and transferred to mainland Aklan.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said it backs the local government's plan to raise the environmental fee in the world-renowned tourist destination, so as to sustain the rehabilitation efforts implemented last year.

Boracay had been closed to tourists for six months in 2018, from April to October. — Dona Magsino/BAP, GMA News