Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Roy A. Cimatu is strongly supporting President Duterte’s call for Congress to enact a law establishing the Boracay Island Development Authority (BIDA).
He stressed that passing the measure would sustain the gains of the rehabilitation of the island resort.
Cimatu noted that the President’s endorsement of the BIDA bill will help ensure the timely and full passage of the measure being pushed by the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force (BIATF) headed by the DENR.
“We express our sincerest gratitude to the President for his endorsement of the BIDA bill,” Cimatu said.
He added that “this is the opportune time to pass a law creating a permanent agency to sustain the gains achieved by the BIATF, which term has been extended for only one year or until April 2021.”
Duterte recently issued Executive Order (EO) number 115, extending the term of the BIATF by another year which was supposed to expire on May 8, 2020 two years after its creation through EO 53.
“It is the tacit duty of the task force to ensure that Boracay does not backslide and slip to a state of environmental degradation especially with all the hard work, cooperation and concern shown by all stakeholders,” he added.
In the President’s fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 27, Duterte asked Congress to pass the BIDA measure to sustain what he called “remarkable emergence of the island back to its former glory.”
"For the rest of my term, I hope to see concerted efforts in protecting the environment. The rehabilitation of Boracay island showcased our reserve to safeguard the environment," Duterte said in his fifth SONA.