With the expected influx of tourists in Boracay in the coming months, Senator Nancy Binay called on the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force to ensure strict monitoring and compliance of the carrying capacity of the island.
“The BIATF could perhaps give us an update about the status of the framework set in the monitoring of tourists and their evaluation and recommendations especially as we’re anticipating an influx of tourists in the coming months,” she said.
When Boracay was reopened in October last year, the government imposed a limit of 6,405 tourist entries a day.
“We should learn from our mistakes—in the non-implementation of laws, in ignoring the laws and in allowing unli-tourists,” said Binay.
Only 19,000 tourists will be allowed in Boracay at any given day and workers in the island must not exceed 15,000 per day to be able to maintain the 55,000 carrying capacity of the island.
Aside from strictly enforcing the daily limit on tourist arrivals, Binay also urged the inter-agency council to remain vigilant and ensure establishments in Boracay comply with environmental laws.
“Sana hindi ito ningas-cogon lamang. It would be a shame if we are not able to continue the reforms that were put in place,” she added.
One major component in the Boracay rehabilitation is the implementation of the “25+5-meter” easement along the beach. This means no structures are allowed to be put up within the 30-m area.
Structures that encroached on the easement along the white beach at the western side of the island have also been removed by the owners or demolished by the task force.
Boracay Island, which was previously described as ‘a virtual cesspool,’ was closed to tourists for six months from April 26 to Oct. 25 last year to undergo rehabilitation.
