Closing Boracay And Letting It Rest Would Be A Good Long Term Decision

I'm already hearing Boracay-natics whine about, "Kapag isara ang Boracay, paano ang tourism?" which means "If we close down Boracay, what about tourism?" or stuff like that. Well here's a bit of a businessman's view to at least ask, "If we're not innovating to save the environment then what's the use of innovating if all you destroy is what innovation could have saved?" In short, business shouldn't only be focused on earning money and innovating to keep it running in the short run. In fact, what's the use of having money if the whole island is drop dead polluted? You can surely still earn money but later -- the tourist sport would be good as dead that it may have to be nuked. That's something I wish wouldn't happen. Innovative thinking should be long term and sustainable -- not short-term and just thinking about getting easy money. 

Here's what GMA-News has to say about President Duterte's decision to close Boracay:

President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday approved the recommendation of three government agencies for a six-month closure of Boracay effective April 26 to make way for the rehabilitation of the world-famous holiday destination.

Duterte arrived at the decision during the 24th Cabinet meeting in Malacañang where the proposal of the Departments of Environment and Natural Resources, Interior and Local Government, and Tourism was tackled, according to presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.

Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra described the discussion on the matter as “exhaustive,” adding calamity funds “will be activated to tide affected workers over.”

Before this, the Office of the President received the detailed memorandum containing the justification of the three agencies pushing for the closure.

Details of the memorandum have yet to be released by the Palace, which it had asked in light of concerns on the closure's impact on businesses and livelihood in the area.

The Palace had also considered a recommendation from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for the shutdown to be done in phases.

Stakeholders earlier said the impending closure of the prime tourist destination may result in at least P56 billion in foregone revenues and render 36,000 people jobless.

Duterte had said that he will shut down the island, which he described as a "cesspool," if its sewage problem would remain unresolved in six months.

He also threatened to slap sedition charges against those who would actively resist his plan to restore Boracay to its pristine state. —JST, GMA News

The idea of "shutdown in phases" means it wouldn't be an immediate shutdown. Rather, it will shutdown in phases which may mean that it will not shut down all at once. Rather, it may focus on areas where the problem is that bad. This is risky to lose PHP 56 billion worth of revenues but it may be better to lose it than to get PHP 560 billion worth of lawsuits.

Here's an aerial view of what's happening to the once beautiful island-paradise of Boracay. It used to be very lush and beautiful. Now, it's deteriorating in a period of 15 years. Shouldn't it be disturbing that there was NOTHING done to save this destination? Now that President Duterte is moving to try and rehabilitate the island -- I'm hearing Dilawans (probably wearing yellow bathing suits of sorts ready to fly there) bitching and some even go as far as to claim that he's selling it to China. Sell it to China? I doubt it China could even use Boracay for its military exploits compared to them seizing Spratlys (which should be prevented at all costs because it'll give them more motivation to keep bullying their neighboring countries). 

The water quality in many of its places is no longer good. If the shutdown in phases is to be done then they should focus on shutting down certain places in Boracay where the water quality is that bad. The algal bloom is proof that the water is indeed really very polluted. What's the use of getting PHP 56 billion in revenues if it will end up translating into multiple lawsuits because people are getting sick?

Here's also something interesting from the Manila Times which I find to be very interesting once again linking Noynoy "B.S. Man" Aquino and Marbobo "Palpakman" Roxas to its deterioration by dismissing anything Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo does as "evil":

Roxas backed Boracay elites

However, sources in the resort island claimed that Mar Roxas—whom President Benigno Aquino 3rd planned would succeed him—took up the cudgelsfor the Boracay elites who claimed to be landowners there.

With Boracay just off the coast of the Panay island, most of them after all were from that region consisting of Aklan, Capiz, Antique, and Iloilo that was Roxas’ political and economic fiefdom. (Roxas’clan was from Capiz whose capital is even named after his grandfather, the country’s fourth president, Manuel Roxas.)

Just three months after Arroyo issued the proclamation, the Boracay landholders—led by Jose Yap, the then mayor of Malay town of which the island was part of, and former Estrada official Orlando Sacay—and allegedly with Roxas’ help, filed two cases at the Supreme Court asking it to declare null and void Arroyo’s Proclamation1064.

Because of the case, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) could not do anything to implement Proclamation 1064, particularly its order for it to undertake a cadastral survey to determine which exactly were the forest reserves and which were agricultural lands.

It was only two years later that the 15-man high court issued its unanimous decision, in October 2008 (G.R. No. 167707). The court upheld Arroyo’s move to save the island. It declared that all of Boracay was state property, and all the ownership claims of individuals and companies in the island were invalid.

The high court explained that for a land to be “alienable,” or subject to private ownership, the state must declare it as such. But in the case of Boracay, the high tribunal pointed out, “no such proclamation, executive order, administrative action, report, statute, or certification was presented to the Supreme Court. The records are bereft of evidence showing that, prior to 2006, the portions of Boracay occupied by private claimants were subject of a government proclamation that the land is alienable and disposable.”

This is something to think about. As much as I believe that Arroyo herself may have some things to answer for such as her allegations -- but I could still commend her for some things such as the whole Boracay intervention scheme. Here we have Marbobo adn Noynoy who ended up making null and void the proclamation of Arroyo that could have helped rehabilitate Boracay. From the same article at Manila Times, we also read this at the end:

Largely hidden from public

Arroyo’s proclamation and the Supreme Court decision upholding it and asserting that no private entity can own land in Boracay to this day has been largely hidden from the public mind. So much so that even the government-owned Pagcor ignorantly issued permits to two foreign entities to operate casinos there. How can Pagcor issue permits to corporations that cannot own or lease land in Boracay?

The main reason why businesses have rushed in the past decade to Boracay to establish resorts that have resulted in its environmental degradation is the fact that Aquino and Roxas had quietly told not only the island’s land-claimants and Panay’s political and economic elite but also the business sector that they would ignore Arroyo’s proclamation and the Supreme Court decision upholding it.

When he assumed office, Aquino ordered his environment secretary, Ramon Paje, not to implement Arroyo’s proclamation, so that 11 years after it was issued, the cadastral survey that would have determined which are forest reserves and which are agricultural lands has not been undertaken. The Boracay and Panay elites were told of Aquino’s position, which accelerated the grabbing of lands in the island, as well as their sale to big resort owners.

However, to Paje’s credit, or to his carefulness to evade graft charges, he ordered suspended all issuances of land titles in the island, so that today most of the claims to ownership there are based on “tax declarations” or payments of the taxes on property they allegedly own.

Aquino’s stance was a political boon for the Yellow Cult. Western Visayas (Panay provinces) became the prime Yellow bastion. In the 2010 elections 52 percent of its voters voted for Aquino and 64 percent for Roxas, percentages of landslide support for a candidate unmatched by any other region. Even in the 2016 elections, a phenomenal landslide-level 60 percent of Panay voted for Roxas, with only 14 percent for Duterte, his very worst performance.

The cost though to Boracay has been so steep in terms of environmental degradation, prompting Duterte to call it a cesspool.

Hmmm this would be dumb should Noynoy decide to blame Gloria for the degradation of Boracay when it ended up his fault. Think about it -- by IGNORING not only the flood projects of Gloria but also her plan to rehabilitate Boracay -- the end result is not a pretty picture. It ends up in one way or another a near wasteland because of the island -- which should be a lush tropical paradise to be over-industrialized. Instead of promoting innovation for the better (ex. environmentally friendly technology) -- everyone ended up using innovation for the worse in this scenario.

This also should be a reminder about sensationalizing Boracay. Think and just think aren't there other places worth going to aside from Boracay? There's Coron in Palawan, there's Siargao in Surigao, there's Bolhoon beach, there's beaches in Danao, there's Camotes Island, there's Bantayan Island, there's Malapascua islands, there's Moalboal -- why aren't we promoting more places and instead, why keep promoting Boracay until it becomes a cesspool?

Boracay really needs a serious clean up right now. If not, it may end up having to be nuked which means more revenues to be lost in the future.