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Friday, March 29, 2024

Palawan traders warned: Follow the rules, keep province clean

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In a bid to prevent  a Boracay-type environmental disaster, President Rodrigo Duterte urged local officials and concerned citizens of Palawan to observe the tourist influx in the island, calling on  hotels and business establishments  to simply “follow the rules.”

Duterte said he would not want to see Palawan suffer the same fate as that of the famed Boracay island.

“Just clean it. Do not overload. You will be the guards here. Boracay is a classic case of overloading. It can carry only so many people,” the President said in his speech during the 1st Subaraw Biodiversity Festival in Palawan.

“If you fill it up with all the waste, it will tumble down. That’s why it’s [needs to be] controlled. You have to control the number [of tourists here],” he added, reminding local officials to keep a watchful eye on the arrivals of tourists.

The President also stressed that owners of hotels and establishments in Palawan need to play a role in preserving the province’s environment.

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“Do not allow the hotels near the easement. They should stay away. Tell them to really move far,” he said, noting that hotels, as seen in the case of Boracay, throw their toilet wastes directly to the ocean.

Stressing that the national government has jurisdiction over the country’s  beachfronts, Duterte said it is his administration’s duty to protect it from violators as he decided to place all hotels in the island on “notice.”

“So, I’m giving notice to all hotels that are operating near the sea. Do not connect your tubes directly to it. If you want to build a hotel, add another many million to have a water treatment,” Duterte said, maintaining that hotels must have proper toilet management system as he observed how Canada turns its wastes into something useful by turning urine into clean drinking water.

“You protect your crown jewel of the Palawan, which is really the beautiful sceneries. And avoid overcrowding,” Duterte said. “For the hotels and the resorts, follow rules. You will not have a problem with me.”

“Let us work together in protecting the environment so that the government’s action to close Boracay Island will not be repeated elsewhere in the country,” he added.

Disgusted over the environmental issues of Boracay, which he previously labeled as “cesspool,” the President had closed Boracay for six months to give way for its rehabilitation and  reopened the  world-famous island resort to the public last month.

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