DENR drawing up list of Boracay violators

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is set to come up with a list of violators of environmental laws in Boracay within the first week of November “to facilitate the filing of appropriate administrative as well as criminal charges” against them.

In a memorandum issued last Oct. 26, DENR Secretary Lito Atienza ordered Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) director Julian Amador to “identify all establishments that continuously failed to comply with environmental laws,” including existing rules and regulations that the department is enforcing on the 1,006-hectare resort island.

“I have a standing order to our people to go after the violators, whoever gets hurt,” he said. “Anyone proven to have violated the laws will go to jail.”

He also directed the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau and the EMB regional office in Iloilo City to check allegations that a Boracay resort has been built on top of coral reefs.

Atienza gave Amador two weeks to submit a “comprehensive report” giving full details of violations, saying the move was “to ensure that no further environmental damage occurs within and around the island of Boracay while various issues concerning its protection and conservation are being assessed.”

The order came on the heels of the approval of a master plan for Boracay’s development that will identify areas and their designated uses and the degree of development based on these areas’ identified carrying capacity. – Perseus Echeminada, Katherine Adraneda