Boracay beach clean up

I may write against the religion of PC ecology, but it does not mean I oppose conservation and green measures to stop it.

here, corruption results in excess building, traffic congestion, contaminated water and dumping garbage into the ocean near the beachers. A small gift to the authorities will let you pollute (sound familiar, Chicago?), and is one reason Duterte is pushing to shut down Boracay.

one of Joy's relatives owns a small bed and breakfast there (she invested her savings as an OFW into the place) so we have visited Borachay.

So we are waiting to see what happens, and if our cousin Jordan will have to arrange his wedding here instead of at that resort.

The business community is upset, of course. Lots of money and a lot of people will lose their jobs if there is a complete shutdown.

But one suspects it was the usual Duterte hyperbole, but at least he is trying to clean the place up for future tourism before "developers" destroy that wonderful beach.

The Inquirer discusses the problem here, including compromise solutions which would work... if they are actually done.

the PhilStar calls the island a "ticking time bomb" that needs to be rehabilitated before the place is destroyed.

so what should you do if they actually shut the place down?

To minimize the adverse impact of the planned closure of Boracay to tourism, the Department of Tourism has requested airline companies, including Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific, to allow those who have already booked flights to Boracay to cancel or rebook without fine or penalty. These airline companies were also asked to just divert their Boracay-bound flights to other tourist destinations in the country.
Once all the illegal structures are gone, plans are to possibly adopt a masterplan prepared for the DOT by top urban planner, architect Felino Palafox. Some of its features are a boardwalk and and a tram that will go around the island, which means that all other modes of transportation presently being used such as habal-habal and tricycles will be phased out.
Read more at https://www.philstar.com/business/2018/03/18/1797722/ticking-time-bomb#SD42kC8PZvQCJFpF.99

to make things worse, a typhoon caused a lot of damage last December, and locals blamed the unregulated (and illegal) development for making the flooding worse.

here are several videos discussing the problem: All alas in Tagalog.






this is an ongoing problem: Here is a report about one such illegal resort that was taken down in 2014.



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so where else can you go if you are headed to the Philippines?

well, we don't have beaches, but our area is a prime destination for ecotourism:



I mean, what is more exciting that sitting around and watching the rice (and Onions) grow?