PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has created an inter-agency task force to “reverse the degradation of Boracay island.”
Duterte signed Executive Order No. 53 on May 8, designating Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu as the chairperson of the task force.
“The issues surrounding Boracay island are no longer a purely local matter but a national concern that needs concerted national and local cooperation and synchronization of plans and programs,” Duterte said in the EO.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano and Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat will serve as the vice chairpersons of the task force. The other members include the secretaries of justice, public works, social welfare, labor, and trade.
The President said the powers of the task force include ensuring that local policies in Boracay are consistent with relevant laws, rules, and regulation.
Six months from its effectivity, the EO will impose a moratorium not only on the construction or expansion of business facilities in Boracay but also on the issuance of permits and licenses for such.
Then two years from the effectivity of the EO, the task force shall be deemed dissolved.
The total closure of Boracay to tourists began on April 26 after the President described the famous island resort as a “cesspool,” alluding to a filthy pit of liquid waste.