DINGALAN, Aurora—All 38 beach resorts in this coastal town in southern Aurora are operating without the required Environmental Compliance Certificates.
Dingalan Mayor Shierwin Taay said securing an ECC has gone out of fashion in the province.
“That is not a trend here,” Taay said.
An ECC is a requirement of the Environmental Management Bureau for any project in the country that poses a potential environmental risk or impact, such as mining, agriculture and construction projects.
The EMB issues the certificate but only after a thorough and positive review of the project’s application.
Taay explained that local resort owners could not secure an ECC because the beachfront is part of the so-called “salvage zone” which prohibits the setting up of structures 30 meters from the shoreline.
“The DENR prohibits resorts and other structures from being erected in the salvage zone so you can’t expect an ECC to be issued in favor of the resort owners,” he said.
In January, then provincial environment and natural resources officer Cyril Coliflores said that save for a few resorts and hotels in the capital town of Baler, all other establishments have failed to secure ECCs.
The lack of the requisite ECC is posing a risk to the province’s tourism potentials, much like the pollution problem which is now hounding Boracay, said EMB regional director Lormelyn Claudio.
Coliflores said the holding capacities of resorts to accommodate the influx of tourists are going beyond the normal, with Aurora threatening to become another Boracay that is unable to sustainably absorb the tourism boom.
Claudio said the EMB plans to complete a master plan to make the entire province cope with the environmental demands of tourism.
