By Tara Yap CLEAN-UP BEACHHEAD – Bulabog Beach is where the clean-up of Boracay officially started Thursday, with volunteers collecting trash and debris from the shoreline. (Juan Carlo de Vela) Boracay, Aklan – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has released the names of businesses in this resort island that are allegedly dumping wastewater into storm drains. DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu read the names of hotels, resorts, restaurants, and infrastructures Thursday as the cleanup of the country’s most popular beach destination officially began. Cimatu said the drainage system, built by the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), an attached agency of Department of Tourism (DOT), was meant to channel overflow rainwater to the sea. Recurring flooding has been blamed on illegal drainage connections and for causing the high bacteria levels along Bulabog Beach, where the treated wastewater was supposed to be flushed. DENR’s list are:

• New Guard Enterprises
• Besides New Guard
• Red Coco Inn
• Hennan Garden
• Red Coconut Beach Resort
• Along Azalea (not identified)
• In front of Jollibee
• Lime Hotel
• Wazzan Laundry Services
• In front of Leylam Shawarma
• In front of Hanna Tour/ Hennan Lagoon
• In front of BDO/Crown Regency
• Crown Regency Convention Center
• Red Coconut Hotel
• The District
• Small alley in front of Posco Tour
• Small alley beside Genko Souvenir Shop
• In front of “Space for Rent” beside Guest Lounge
• In front of proposed five-storey building beside guest lounge
• In front of Guilius Boracay
• In front of Zen Room and beside Guilius Boracay
• In front of JJ Resort
• Between JJ Resort and Sun Wood Resort

The list will be submitted to DENR’s Pollution Adjudication Board. Cimatu said violators “may have to pay a fine of anywhere from P10,000 to P200,000 per day.” DENR Regional Director Jim Sampulna said more inspections are being carried out to find out which establishments are illegally connected to the drains. Boracay will be off limits to tourists for six months. On Thursday, Coast Guard boats were on patrol and assault-rifle wielding police were posted at entry points to the once-pristine island that has become tainted by heavy commercialization and overdevelopment. Regional police chief Cesar Binag told Agence France Presse the shutdown began past midnight, with tourists barred from boarding the ferry that is the main way onto the island. “Boracay is officially closed to tourists. We are not closing establishments but tourists cannot enter. We are implementing the instruction of the President,” Binag said. About 600 policemen were deployed, with some performing life-like drills including riot officers battling bottle-hurling protesters and mock hostage taking of sunbathers – all before startled locals. “It looks like we are at war,” Jessica Gabay, a grocery seller, told AFP late Wednesday. “Maybe the authorities are doing this to instill fear so people will follow the rules.” The government conceded on Thursday there was no real threat, with Interior and Local Government Assistant Secretary Epimaco Densing telling AFP the security presence was “just part of preparing for the worst”. President Duterte ordered the shutdown this month after calling the resort a “cesspool”, dirtied by tourism-related businesses dumping raw sewage directly into the ocean. During the closure only residents with ID cards are allowed to board ferries to the tiny island that is home to around 40,000 people. Boats are barred from sailing within three kilometers of the shoreline and only Boracay residents are allowed to fish in its waters. Unchecked construction has eaten away the island’s natural beauty, while slimy algae-filled waves in some areas and mountains of discarded drink bottles are problems acknowledged even by critics of the shutdown. “I’m all for rehabilitation and preserving it but clearly this is not the way to do it,” Philippine politics expert Ashley Acedillo told AFP. He called the closure an “ill-thought through, unplanned and knee-jerk action” that did not take into account the economic impact on the island’s workers and business community. Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo Teo led the first of wave of volunteer cleaners at Bolabog Beach. Majority of the trash gathered were dead sea grass. The others were plastic bottles, candy wrappers, slippers, and broken sunglasses. (With AFP)