Two weeks before its official reopening to the public, President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday vowed to visit Boracay to distribute land titles to the natives.
Duterte made his promise even as Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu declared that the world-famous tourist resort was now fit to swim in again.
READ: Cimatu lifts suspension of EECs in Boracay
During Monday’s dry run in preparation for Boracay’s Oct. 26 reopening, Cimatu assured Duterte and the public that Boracay Island was no longer a cesspool.
READ: Boracay reopens for dry run from Oct. 15-25
He said the island was now clean.
Duterte said he would visit Boracay not to celebrate but to distribute land to the native Atis.
“I’m not into sumptuous celebration, but I will go to Boracay to personally distribute the land reform program certificates to the Lumads there, the natives,” said Duterte in his speech during the book launching of former President Fidel V. Ramos.
“If you allow hotels and every subdivision there, it cannot carry beyond its normal capacity in terms of environmental loads and burdens… I’ll go there someday. I’m waiting for the Department of Agrarian Reform.”
Duterte said he hoped the bacteria on the island had been eradicated as seen on television.
“Roy Cimatu, I just talked to him. He was asking me a moment ago if I’m going there. I told him, ‘No, I’m not.’ I’ll go there for the land distribution of the land reform,” Duterte said.
Asked about the status of the land reform program in Boracay, the Palace said it still needed to ask the Department of Agrarian Reform and Department of Environment and Natural Resource for the directives.
“There’s none yet. I still have to meet with them. I will respond to your questions when I’m briefed with that,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo told reporters on Monday.
He said both the DAR and DENR would be involved in the land distribution, but he still needed to ask the secretaries of both departments for the programs’ finalization.
Earlier that day, Cimatu, who led the dry run of the island’s reopening, declared that the known tourist spot in the country was no longer a cesspool.
He said Boracay, after undergoing a six-month rehabilitation, was now fit for swimming.
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