ILOILO CITY—The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) assured that the rehabilitation programs at world-famous Boracay Island will be completed by June 30, the end of the Duterte administration.
“If not for the Covid-19 pandemic, the rehabilitation programs would have already been completed. But we’re almost there,” said Martin Jose Despi, the new general manager of the DENR-led Boracay Inter-Agency Rehabilitation Management Group (BIARMG).
Despi told Manila Bulletin in a phone interview that the overall rating for the rehabilitation program is around 8.5 in the scale of 10.
“Based on laboratory works, the safety level of the water at the front beach has greatly improved,” Despi said.
Despi added that the BIARMG recently conducted a three-day meeting for assessing the remaining works needed to be done at the resort island in Malay town, Aklan province.
The various government agencies reviewed the parameters of the Boracay Action Plan (BAP), which is the guidebook for the rehabilitation works that began in April 2018 when the country’s most famous beach destination was temporarily closed to tourists for six months.
Some of the remaining works that need to be ironed out involve the alleged illegal structures in the forestlands, wetlands or near the shoreline.
“We are prioritizing the removal of commercial structures and not the residential structures due to human considerations,” said Despi.
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was inked with the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD), National Housing Authority (NHA), provincial government of Aklan, and municipal government of Malay for relocation of local residents affected by the rehabilitation program.