By Camille A. Aguinaldo, Reporter
HALFWAY INTO the six-month closure of Boracay, resort owners remain confused on the ongoing rehabilitation efforts in the tourist destination, citing the lack of centralized guidelines on compliance being required by national government agencies.
At the Senate hearing on Monday, Peter Tay, a travel agency owner and member of the Boracay Foundation, Inc. board of directors, said the business group has been requesting the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) for the list of non-compliant establishments in order to help in policing erring owners.
But officials from the DILG told them that each establishment has to check its compliance on its own.
Mr. Tay also raised the memo of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) mandating every beachfront establishment to build its own sewage treatment plant.
He said this order is contrary to the Clean Water Act, where the burden of providing such facilities is supposed to be under the water provider.
“While we are all keen to prepare for the reopening and want to police our ranks and improve compliance, we are at a loss with whom to speak, who has the final arbiters of compliance. We all want to comply, but we are just being passed on from (one) agency to another,” he said.
DILG Undersecretary for Operations Epimaco V. Densing, on the other hand, said the government has conducted inspections on establishments and has provided owners with their deficiencies regarding permits and licenses to operate.
When asked if the government has given establishments notices on noncompliance on structures and environmental rules, Mr. Densing said the DENR has to provide these.
It became clear during the hearing that different agencies have their own list of requirements imposed on establishments, but there is no single entity with an overall authority.
DENR requires compliance on environmental facilities while the Department of Tourism (DoT) is in charge of issuing accreditation to those that have complied with the DILG and DENR rules and regulations. Local government units, meanwhile, require compliance on local permits.
“You will really get confused,” Senator Paolo Benigno A. Aquino IV said.
“Basically, the problem is because there are different agencies telling us different things, we, the stakeholders, really do not know who to follow and what to do next,” Mr. Tay said.
He suggested that a one-stop shop be set up, with representatives from different agencies, where resort owners could coordinate which aspect of their establishment were not compliant.
Senator Nancy S. Binay-Angeles, chair of the committee on tourism, made a similar call to the government.
“After this hearing, I hope the private sector and the government discuss the issue. I hope the government will open an office in Boracay where there is a table for DENR, DILG, LGU and DoT,” she told reporters after the hearing.
She also said the committee may hold another hearing in Boracay on August to check firsthand the developments in the rehabilitation program.

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