Boracay rehabilitation off to ‘good start’

REHABILITATION work in Boracay got off to a “good start” with the overwhelming support and cooperation from its residents and stakeholders, according to Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu.

“We anticipated confusion and disturbance among the residents and stakeholders but thank God there was none. We’re very happy [ because the people were happy with the closure that was enforced on April 26],” Cimatu over the weekend said in an interview with state-run radio station dzRB.

He added that about 98 percent of Boracay residents and business owners have volunteered and agreed to demolish on their own structures they had built illegally.

Cimatu said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources will ask displaced Boracay workers to join a cash-for-work program administered by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to help in the clean-up of wetlands.

Boracay has nine wetlands but only four remain.

Undersecretary Emmanuel Leyco of the DSWD also on April 26 said they will assist some 19,000 registered and 17,000 informal workers.

According to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the Boracay circumferential road is set to be completed within the six months’ closure of the world-famous island resort.

The DPWH said the circumferential road will cost P490 million.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court (SC) has named the magistrate who will study a petition filed by residents and workers through the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) regarding the April 26 closure of Boracay.

Via raffle of the SC en banc also last Thursday, the case went to Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo.

Named respondents in the NUPL petition were President Rodrigo Duterte, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and acting Interior chief Eduardo Año.