Philippine Secretary of Tourism, ‘Ace’ Durano, allocated 10 minutes only for the open forum at BCCIs GMM. The ten minutes, however, turned fast into almost an hour as some important questions were raised by the audience and also the media ‘ambushed’ the secretary with questions. See some of the articles in the national media on Secretary Duranos visit on Boracay on page 3. We print here almost all of the questions and answers of the open forum, as it may be of interest for Boracays stakeholders. The picture on the right shows DOT secretary Joseph ‘Ace’ Durano, and to his left Elisea Gozun, EPG member and former secretary of DENR.

Audience: Secretary, we all would like to know who is in charge of Boracay?

Secretary Durano:  If you understand the structure of the National Government, vis-à-vis its relationship to the LGUs, all have some authority over the island.  And that is why we all have to have a single direction on the island, which is also the reason why we have a task force so that there can be a common agenda between National Government and LGU as far as Boracay is concerned. I think we are all one in saying that our common agenda is the sustainable development of Boracay. I think this is the biggest challenge of Boracay. Now, I believe, the DOT along with other  departments- DILG,  PNP,  PTA along with DOTC as far as transportation is concerned;  DPWH, DENR and other departments should work together to ensure  the sustainability of development here in Boracay. All of us cherish and respect democratic practices of this country and at times, it may sound like bickering or not having the same agenda. Some may have different ideas on how to pursue this but at the end of the day; we agree to make sure that everyone’s ideas will be tempered and complement the common agenda. Do you have a specific example of an authority in charge?

Audience: Is it the PTA in charge? The Governor? The Mayor? I think there lies the general confusion.

Secretary Durano: All of them have the same authority over the island.  The authority of the province over the island is provided for under the provincial government while the authority of the barangays over their jurisdictions is provided by the LGU. The municipality has jurisdiction as well and has some authority in running the island. This is the reality. What is important is for all of us to agree on a common vision so that our actions will complement each other.

Audience:  On the issue of the 25 meter setback on the beach that began last year:  although this has started, a lot of people do not understand why it was not continued.  My second question, which is a very old one, why do we still not have any master plan for Boracay?

Connie Padilla, EPG:  With regards to the setback on the beach all of you are aware of the efforts of the PTA during the month of October when the GM, Dean Barbers, was here together with the Chief of Police and the Mayor and they tried to demolish the illegal structures on the beach.  Unfortunately, we were also hampered by some people who filed Temporary restraining Orders (TROs) which are now being deliberated in court. We have to respect judicial process, but for those of you who intend to do file TROs, just be aware of what your action is going to do to the island as a whole.  It is strange but these TROS were filed and sent to the PTA even before the Mayor could issue the Notices of Demolition and we cannot understand how this can happen. Like I said, all of these is going through the judicial process. Rest assured though that fore the benefit of everybody we are going to follow this up and we have not forgotten this. We are still working on it and we have the help of Col. Durana who has helped us, in particular, with the clearing of the beach, at least in the waterfront area. We commend him for his efforts. The waterfront is now cleaner and the view is now also not obscured by boats and people can now take pictures of the sunset. For swimmers, they need not worry that they will be hit by the boats that used to congregate in the swimming area. We should congratulate Col. Durana for this. He is continuing the work of the previous Director and I think we should support Col. Durana in his efforts to clear up the waterfront.

The process is not perfect. There will always be complaints and objections and these are all part of the democratic processes Sec. Durano mentioned. You will find that we are all willing to listen and get suggestions but in the long run, whatever decision we will make will be for the good of the entire island. Our only interest here is to see that the sustainable development of the island continues. 

Secretary Durano: There is an existing master plan but when it was completed, it was also the time when the Local Government Code was also passed into law and that the responsibility of the PTA to run the island was transferred to the LGU. The master plan was turned over to the municipality to implement. Clearly, it has been overtaken by development. As we speak right now, we are updating the master plan together with Palafox.   

Connie Padilla: The PTA is working with Palafox and people are asking how different this is from the other master plans made before. Palafox is now working closely with the municipal council and other planners such as building and zoning engineers. Once Palafox finalizes this, there will be a series of public hearings and then followed by legislation by the Sanggunian and passed into law for implementation.  We encourage you to attend these hearings so we can consider your say in it before we finalize anything. 

Audience: You talked about sustainability and many of us feel that we have a contradiction in the island. We have too many constructions, too many tricycles, but we do not have enough roads or adequate infrastructure and we see that this contradiction can be damaging to tourism.

Col. Durana:  When you talk about traffic management, you have to consider a lot of things:  engineering, enforcement, education and environment.  As far as engineering is concerned, we cannot do anything about it at the moment because of the existing TROS which are preventing us from widening the main road.  But there are other alternatives we can think of. For example the Task Force Bantay Boracay will intensify the enforcement of traffic rules and regulations in the island. Right now, the Task Force in cooperation with the LTO is conducting a survey to identify which vehicles should be in the island and which should not be here.  We are also informing the public of the impending enforcement that we will pursue by next week for the purpose of de-clogging the main road.  But the best option right now is to de-clog the main road of motor vehicles such as tricycles. We are also developing a plan to improve road safety and discipline.  This is an initiative from the Provincial Government and we are tasked to enforce this with the end view of improving the quality of life in the island and more importantly improve the sustainability of development in Boracay.

Audience: The Task Force is definitely doing a good job but they can only do that much. 

Secretary Durano: That Master Plan is very important in getting Boracay right.  The national government has already proposed to the municipality to have a moratorium on new buildings. However, it is the right of the municipality to issue building permits.  We tried to do this from our side by not issuing environmental clearances (ECCs) anymore. This is required before any new construction is done. The municipality, however, issues still building permits for those without ECCs. The issuance of building permits is more of a revenue function than a regulatory one. Thus, the role of the master plan becomes even more important. We cannot ask the LGU to stop issuing business permits, but instead rationalize the issuances based on the master plan.

Elisea Gozun, EPG: I agree with Sec. Durano on the importance of the master plan and the key to this is the shared vision for long term development and I want to stress the word “long term”.  You may have the money right now, or more money now because of the businesses you have, but down the line, the money may not be there anymore because you are destroying the foundation of your development. Underlying any master planning exercise and any development for that matter is really certain givens or conditions in the island. An example of this would be the geography of the island which covers geo-hazard and carrying capacity of the island. For those who attended the Boracay Summit in September 2005, if you recall, I presented a report on your water resources which had already exceeded its limit in 2000 and we are now in 2007. You already have salt-water intrusion around the island as shown by the study conducted by the San Carlos University. This is happening already now because the water in the aquifers is receding much faster than its natural replenishment.  The limits of your water resources are already exceeded.  The geography of the island is largely sand and karst formation and caves. These are not solid rocks which is why there should be limits to the heights of buildings here. These formations are prone to collapse and more weight on certain areas would increase the likelihood of an accident to happen. The aquifers on the island are shallow about one to two meters below the ground. This is also the reason why you should be connected to the sewerage system and that households should have” sealed” septic tanks. We have seen septic tanks here in the island that has no bottoms. They seep directly into the sand thereby contaminating the groundwater. This makes it even more important to get everybody involved since you are all here and are living here and you all have a stake in this island.  And if all of you can understand this and take all this into consideration, the master plan can show us where Boracays development should be going.

Audience:  What is the time frame for this Master Plan?

Secretary Durano:  By this month, we would already be working with the Sanggunian, but with the upcoming elections it would be prudent to wait for the incoming officials. At this point, while waiting for the elections to end, we can use this time to consults with the stakeholders.