Membership and Fellowship: Boracay Chamber now has 41 regular members To increase membership the BCCI Secretariat is sending out letters inviting resorts,  hotels,  restaurants,  bars and allied businesses to  join the Chamber. The Chamber is targeting at least 5 new members for 2007.

Information, Education and Culture: The president presented the proposed training programs for 2007 of which he hopes members of the BCCI will participate.  The proposed program includes: Customer Service Excellence, Basic English Communication, Effective Business Writing, Tour Guiding and Accreditation,  Supervisory Skills,  Personality Development Workshop,  Accounting for Non-Accountants 1 & 2  and Time Management Skills.

Safety and Security:  The president stated that although the Chamber supports the One Entry/One Exit Policy being implemented in the island,  it cannot be totally implemented as a whole. As of the moment, the BCCI is preparing a position letter questioning certain guidelines in the policy, which the Chamber believes are detrimental to the businesses in the island particularly to the  members such as dive shops and beach front hotels and resorts.  The Chamber will also push for a re-structuring of this policy that would lead to an agreeable arrangement between stakeholders. Some of the more pressing issues concerning this one entry/one exit policy are   dry-docking and boat repairs in certain secluded sections in the island, the  far-off distance divers have to manage for them to engage in diving as well as other water sports activities and the inaccessibility of resorts way beyond boat station 1. 

Environment: Last January 15, 2007, the Php4 Million BCCI Pearl 2 Project on the Ecological Waste Management and Education Project was concluded.  This 2-year projected initiated by BCCI in 2005 was given a Php2M funding by Pearl-2 CIDA with BCCI providing another Php2M counterpart funding. The project which started an education and awareness campaign on the importance of waste segregation and the construction of a Materials Recovery Facility in Balabag, marked the beginning of the Chamber’s  continuing efforts to protect the fragile environment of Boracay.  This project has now become the role model for the 2 other MRFs in Yapak and Manoc-Manoc and will also be adopted as a model in the entire province of Aklan as announced  before  by Governor Carlito Marquez himself.  The project was highlighted by the War on Waste (WOW) awards last January 6, 2007.  For this year, BCCI will again launch the 2^nd WOW  Awards as a continuing project to increase   awareness levels  on the need for a sustainable waste management program.

As an off shoot of this project,  the BCCI  was contacted by JICA (Japanese International Cooperation Agency) to assist them in conducting a 2-part  survey on solid waste management for the construction of a sanitary landfill in Malay and the  setting up of a centralized materials recovery facility here in Boracay.  The Chamber has already submitted its proposed budget to the assigned contractors of JICA and hopefully by May 2007,  the proposal would be approved and the project will commence.

President Charles Uy also reported that the BCCI now seats in the Environmental Solid Waste Management Board and the Boracay Environmental Fees Monitoring Team and has stated that the Chamber will be working  closely with the local government on matters concerning solid waste management and other environmental concerns as well as the  use of the Boracay Environmental fees.

On the matter of the land titling issue, the Chamber  continues to   coordinate closely with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and lobby for the creation of implementing rules and regulations that would  guide stakeholders in the resolution of this problem.

Financial Report of the Chamber: President Uy expressed his hope that all members will be able to settle their annual dues by March 31, 2007. As of to date , the BCCI  spends an average of PHP63,000 per month for its operating expenses from January to February 2007. 

All these activities are on going right now and the president expects to achieve successful results by the end of the year.  To start off the year,  BCCI  just signed  a Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of Tourism and with the Eminent Persons Group for a PHP1,016,000.00  project for the rehabilitation of the 3 MRFs in the island  and a  Sanitary Food Preparation Project aimed at the owners and rank and file employees of restaurants,  bars and similar establishments in the island with the objective of raising the standards in food preparation  in the premier tourist destination in the country (see related stories in this newsletter) The president exhorted  members of the Chamber,  particularly owners of food establishments to participate and avail of the certification and accreditation being offered.