PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte has approved the Boracay Medium-Term Action Plan, which covers measures for the resort island like enforcement of environmental rules and waste management.
“We… announce the approval of the Boracay Medium-Term Action Plan, which will sustain the efforts of the government after its closure,” the President’s Spokesperson Salvador S. Panelo said in a statement Tuesday following the Cabinet meeting.
Mr. Panelo said National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director-General and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia and Undersecretary Adoracion M. Navarro reported during the Cabinet meeting Monday that the action plan has four themes: “1) Enforcement of laws where there will be interventions on the regulation of visitors and hotel accommodations; 2) Prevention (covering) interventions in sewerage infrastructure, solid and liquid waste management; 3) Rehabilitation and recovery of ecosystems; and 4) Sustainability of activities in the island such as improvement of roads and public health infrastructure, construction of permanent housing program for indigenous people and education facilities.”
NEDA has said that the action plan will be implemented until 2022.
In January, NEDA said an estimated investment of P25.27 billion is required to implement the action plan.
The private sector, according to NEDA, will finance P15.89 billion or 62.9% of the total cost.
The action plan, NEDA said, will meet the goal of ensuring that the island remains “a world-class tourism destination with a vibrant, productive and climate-resilient economy that is geared toward inclusive growth and anchored on the sustainable development of its innate natural resources.”
Mr. Duterte ordered the six-month closure of Boracay on April 26, 2018 upon the recommendation of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the Department of Tourism (DoT). — Arjay L. Balinbin
