The New Boracay

    Boracay had it's soft opening in October 15, 2018 and it is one of the most likely talk about issue today next to election.  It is being tackled on online media particularly in Facebook and Tweeter. Those who supported the rehabilitation of the so-called "pristine paradise" are now rejoicing and applauded the job well done by the current Philippine administration under the leadership of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.  Perhaps this would make it as one of his highly successful achievements this year.  The supporters of the Philippine president and environmentalists are now using the social media to attack the critics and the oppositions for discrediting the president's plan to rehabilitate the wonderful paradise.  There are photos and videos posted showing the successfull results of the rehabilitation of Boracay.

Photo of Boracay during the late 70s
As you can see there were only nipa huts but now the huts were replaced by modern establishments

Background.

     Boracay island paradise became popular during the 70s.  Filipinos enjoyed much of it's pearly white sand and emerald green-colored water. Gradually during the 80s, it earned the reputation of as one of the most beautiful white sand beach paradise in the world.   Since then, tourists from around the world started to flock boracay making it as one of the top tourist's destinations in the country.  In the 90s,  the boracay from beimg a humble paradise became highly commercialized due to the increase number of visitors.  Small nipa huts were replaced by motels ,restaurants and casinos and as time went on more commercial establishments were built and the local government units due to good revenue brought about by tourism became lenient on giving business permits without thorough inspection and not realizing the dangers of pollution and overused.  There were reports of water pollution and formation  algae along the shores brought about by human waste dumped directly  to the sea  due to the alleged improper sewage system and improper and illegal connections of pipeline of different establishments.  There were many attempts by the previous administration to close Boracay to rehabilitate it but because of the fear of the lost of revenue brought about by tourism,  rehabilitation were not carried out.

     Last February of 2018, a concerned citizen posted a video  about a dark and ghastly liquid comming out of a drainage directly towards the sea which intendedly made as a drainage of rain water.  This video went viral online.   It was then realized the allegations of improper sewage system and illegal connections of pipelines of different commercial establishments were true and the local government unit leniency in providing business permit were proven and such violations were carried out.

The polluted Boracay dubbed as cesspool before  the closure
In this photo you can see algae along the shoreline

The Closure of the Paradise.

     President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the closure of Boracay and stated that it became a cesspool.  He ordered the Department of Environment and Natural Resources ( DENR ) secretary Roy Cimatu to clean up the tourist destination Boracay for Six months.

     " I told Cimatu in a general meeting,  he was assigned here,   I will give you six months to clean the g*****thing.  I will close Boracay, Boracay is a cesspool.  You go into the water, it's  smelly.  Smells of what?  Shit! "  President Rodrigo said.

     The president was serious about it and the boracay was closed for rehabilitation started April 26 and will be reopened October 26, 2018.  The environmentalist and his supporters  applauded this but his critics strongly opposed .

The critics who strongly opposed the rehabilitation of Boracay
Senator Antonio Trillanes on upper left,  Maria Ressa in the middle left, Joven Laurio in the lower left,  Raissa Robles in the lower right and Senator Francis "kiko" Pangilinan on the upper right

The Rise of the Antagonizers. 

     Since Rodrigo Duterte bacame the President of Philippines though he has legions of supporters, there were those who stood firmly against him.   These are the members of Liberal Party,  Catholic clergy and and pro-Liberal party journalists and bloggers.   These are  the active critics of the current administration and will use every means to discredit anyone who are not the their side and non-members of the Liberal party.   The President's  political will to save Boracay was not spared by his antagonizers and made strong allegations  regarding this matter. They often claimed that there was an scheming agenda behind it and not really a pro-environment act.  Such allegations were claimed by the oppositions as only a front to give way to a rich Chinese business man to establish a mega casino in the island.

      Senator Antonio Trillanes was the number one critic of the President.  In the Boracay issue, he accused the President as giving favor to a rich Chinese business man to establish a casino in the island that suspension of Boracay was the period of constructing the alleged  casino but he could not show evidences to verify his allegations.  Now, that the Boracay is undergoing dry-run as a part of the soft openning,  no mega casino was seen.

     Senator Francis " Kiko " pangilinan is another member of the Liberal party strongly opposed the rehabilitation  of Boracay,   he mentioned that it would be a waste of people's money  he also denounced the 600 personel from police,  armed forces and coastguards sent by the President to ensure safety. He added that Boracay was not war zone but an island paradise and having an infantry was inappropriate.   The senator was slamned  by a journalist Raffy Tulfo,  Raffy Tulfo was a well known supporter  of the president and a courageous critic of  Liberal Party.   He discovered why the Senator Francis Pangilinan wanted to stop the rehabilitation of Boracay was because the wedding celebration that he was attending  in which the venue was in Boracay was going to be cancelled because of the closure.  Raffy Tulfo stated that it was a childish  and selfish resentment of the senator.

     Maria Ressa of Rappler also strongly opposed the rehabilitation of Boracay.   She's  known as " the voice of the Liberal party."  She was a former news anchor of CNN and a former head of ABS-CBN news corporation and now the CEO of the online news Rappler.   She has been constantly known for discrediting the President  all throughout since Rodrigo Duterte became the elected president.  She was cynic and pragmatic.  She mentioned in one of her articles that rehabilitation of Boracay was a fool's  dream and such goal could never be achieved.   Because of being a constant critic of the President, she earned Ire among the supporters and accused her of  being " the queen of fake news and a precursor of lies. "  Rappler and Maria Ressa are now suffering the bad reputation of unreliable source of news.

     Raissa Robles and Joven Laurio of  Pinoy Ako Blog are some of the bloggers who also stood against the current administration and made strong alliance with the Liberal Party.   They supported the allegations of Senator Antonio Trillanes about the Boracay.  They are the most active bloggers of the opposition.  Up to now they're still posting articles discrediting the President and his allies.  But bloggers who support the President are far more intrepid and vigilant.   Raissa Robles and Joven Laurio would end up as the underdogs and were often ridiculed  and bullied by their counter part bloggers .   The deadly duo were often regarded as the " hideous and the beast" because of their appearances.  Even I had an heated argument with Robles online.


In The Midst of Restoration.

     Despite the very strong opposition and critism of the rehabilitation of Boracay,   President Rodrigo Duterte still carried out the plan to restore it and pursued the goal to save the troubled paradise. There were those who stood behind his back.   Ms. Imee Marcos and Bong bong Marcos ( son and daughter of the former president Ferdinand Marcos ) had strongly supported him.   Bong bong Marcos  in one of his interviews with Raffy Tulfo stated that no President after his father had ever dared to close Boracay despite the possible lose of revenue brought about by tourism and only President Duterte who brave enough to do it.   Gina Lopez a former secretary of the Development of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)  shared the same sentiment.  During her interview with Karen Davila of Philippine CNN stated that she had no idea of the whole reason behind the closure of Boracay but saving the environment is the most important.
     During the 6 months of rehabilitation,  there were great numbers of violations that were discovered.  200 cases of violation by 116 establishments found violating the Philippine clear water act,   77 cases of violation of the Philippine clean air act,  5 for violating both laws and 9 cases of opetating without environmental compliance act.  Sewage facilities of at least 578 establishments had been inspected and only 385 were found to be connected to thr sewage line of the island's water and sewage system providers and the rest dumped untreated sewage directly to the sea.   Squatters were also found living on the wetlands of the island who had no adequate toilets dumping human waste directly towards the water contributing to a severe water pollution.  The local government units will face possible charges of negligence and leniency on issuing business permits without proper and thorough inspections.

     As the rehabilitation went by, people had seen progress.   Bloggers and other journalists helps to update citizens.  Mocha uson was one of the bloggers had constantly post videos and photos of the progress of rehabilitation since day one.

The photos of the newly restored beauty of Boracay

Cesspool No More.

     The administration began the soft opening in October 15, 2018. It's  dry-run will continue up to October 26, 2018.

      From being dubbed as "cesspool," the island is " now a sight to behold, " environment secretary Ray Cimatu said in a program for Boracay's opening dry-run.  During the dry-run,  government will check the island's water quality, solid waste management and transportation system.   Now we have seen the all new Boracay,  maintenance is very appropriate.  Once the island re-opens on the 3rd week of October, officials vowed to implement new rules to preserve what they've promised to save the pristine island.


The Dos and Donts.

     People can now enjoy the new Boracay.  It can also be our legacy for the generations to come.   The goal of rehabilitation was indeed a successful achievement and we all did it.   I guess those critics who strongly opposed this must be dumbfounded by now. Oblivious to facts I should say.   It may have been difficult but looking back at what the current administration has done,  it has been a, rewarding six months for all of us now we have the new and more pristine Boracay.

The Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte
The great man behind the restoration of Boracay

Sources

newinfoinquirer.net
mochausonblog
cnnphilippines.com
abs-cbnonline