SENATOR Nancy Binay on Sunday asked Malacañang to appoint someone to be directly in charge of Boracay’s rehabilitation after a Senate hearing revealed that the misunderstandings between government agencies were delaying the island’s rehabilitation.
“We have [Environment] Secretary [Roy] Cimatu who is in charge of Task Force Boracay, but his is only an inter-agency council. Who has the final say?” Binay said.
She said Boracay residents were confused as to who was in charge on the ground.
“We need a person who has the final say and who will decide when a problem occurs,” Binay said.
During the Senate hearing, it was revealed that both the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority and the National Water Resources Board were claiming to have regulatory powers over the water concessionaires in the area.
Binay said this had resulted in confusion and the subsequent delay of the division of the island between water utilities.
She said she supports the calls to create a centralized agency to consolidate authority and oversee Boracay’s rehabilitation.
She cited a proposal to create a Boracay Development Authority that will be tasked to regulate all developments in the island and protect its environmental integrity.
“We can use the existing inter-agency task force to kick-start the initiative and perhaps adopt the Intramuros template in creating this agency,” Binay said.
“However, it is also important that we give it the necessary administrative powers to exercise its mandate.”
Binay said she would push for a land-use management framework tailor-fitted to the innovative management techniques necessary for governing Boracay as a protected landscape.
Binay also asked the National Economic and Development Authority to speed up the completion of its medium-term development and physical framework plan to rehabilitate Boracay.
“We hope Neda would be able to come up with a plan even before October so we can assess and see how its comprehensive development plan would integrate the physical, environmental, social, economic and institutional plans of the government agencies in charge of Boracay’s rehab,” she said.