- Boracay has 2 Million visitors including locals as of 2017.
- Island generates 90-115 tonnes of garbage a day, but current infrastructure only allows for 30 tonnes to be removed.
- Authorities discovered illegal “hidden” pipes on the island used to dispose of waste.
- President Rodrigo Duterte declared it as “cesspool”.
- Boracay’s closure began last April 26.
- The government will also dismantle 948 illegal structures on forest land, 102 or 109 buildings on resorts that violate the 30 – meter easement rule.
- The representatives of Macau – based Galaxy Entertainment Group, met President Rodrigo Duterte to vow him with their vision of a USD 500 Million integrated casino resort there.
- State of calamity was declared before Boracay’s closure to expedite funds for social welfare.
- Petition to stop Boracay shutdown.
Humans are the stewards of God’s creation.
Environmental complications such as the island of Boracay’s issue are just a few of the scenarios which also happens to the rest of the world. This manifests in other sectors as well such as in the energy sector; there are the consequences of fracking; in the agriculture sector; there’s soil-erosion, and in the mining sector; there’s ground/surface water contamination. All have environmental impacts related to different kinds of wastes. And whenever there are wastes, it is because there are living things involvement, natural or human-made. In this case, however, whenever there are humans, expect that there will be wastes. Other countries know this for a fact, that’s why their regulators placed strict measures to prevent such environmental impacts out of control while considering the possibility of having a margin of error. One thing for sure, through policies and responsible governance; these strict measures are expected roles of the government. The government as an entity has sovereignty; people and private entities, don’t.
The decision of shutting down the island of Boracay sooner rather than later is prudent enough, because:
- While investigations have already begun far ahead of the announcement of the closure, it will be inefficient catching the violators if we’re providing them the opportunity to run (hide their violations).
- It would prevent further damage to the island (worse, irreversible) which might lead to longer, more costly rehabilitation.
Assuming that if there’s no active rehabilitation, then eventually there will be no pristine island called Boracay anymore – businesses will be gone, there’ll be a massive job loss, an environmental mess ready to spread diseases, and death of species that help create a healthy biosphere would be the new normal. And besides, the island should have been upgraded many years ago which might involve partial or complete closure in the first place anyway.
Given the country’s approval of tax reform called TRAIN (Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion); it was meant to make it financially less burdensome to pay taxes because everybody is expected to participate correctly, and violators should settle the damages!
Bottomline, the situation is way beyond the economic welfare of the locals and businesses in Boracay, this is about the Philippines as well. And as mentioned earlier, people and businesses do always have the option to leave the island, but due to the government’s inherent sovereignty, it can not just abandon the problem. The Philippines with no vision is something that we can’t afford nowadays and hopefully would never allow in the future.
“Great success requires greater sacrifice.” – Sachin Prabhu
Ambition requires imagination. Enclosed in an ambition, are goals. Goals would have specific objectives, and under objectives are plans. Importantly, without proper implementation, ambitions would turn out like puffs of smoke as if it was a dream. And as we implement, the process can be painful. It’s never going to be always easy. When we keep on doing it despite the difficulty, we call it perseverance, and when we don’t lose our focus, we call it determination.
Unfortunately, not all of us share these concepts. An apparent reason is that not all Filipinos can afford to understand this. Ambition is something that each of us has to relate. The way some individuals regard this ambition vary depending on their general conditions, and keeping up with household expenses shouldn’t be considered an ambition at all; it’s a necessity. However, implementation of rules and regulations should not be based on sympathy. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t consider sympathy though. After all, rules and regulations require human decisions anyway. Not to mention that it is intended for human activities as well.
Time horizon plays a role too. An ambition takes time to materialize. It is reasonably not uncommon to notice vague possible outcomes about oneself once dealing with tough situations such as barely getting what are suppose to be necessities. Usually, individuals who are affected by this kind of problem don’t comprehend things towards the future. They don’t think long-term, or at best they have dim perspectives towards their future. Simply because they just can’t relate; they’re not sure of what to do; and they can’t keep up with the present anyway. This is not an excuse though. If they can only think short-term, then they can learn how to think long-term and if seeing dim perspectives are usual to them, then at least there are perspectives, they just have to learn to brighten it up.
This operation will gain significant contribution to our government’s “operational manual” for dealing with situations like this. Collecting data doesn’t stop after investigations, it should be a continuous process so that we can update our policies, plot histories or learn from the activities of the violators, and perhaps creating an electronic algorithms to achieve efficiency in the future – less workforce, producing faster results. For the government, since the island’s economic status is now compromised with the goal of achieving better results, they better make sure they continue doing a good job. Let’s hope that the rehabilitation program would continue even after the island of Boracay opens; we’re just skeptic that the whole program can fit in 6 months.
The Bad Culture.
The wrong approach towards difficulty.
The common mistake among us is whenever we think of difficulty; we’re biased to label it as the wrong way, applying it to most of the situations, including the critical ones. “Kapag mahirap gawin, malamang maling paraan yan, kasi…” (if it’s difficult to do, most likely it’s the wrong way, because…) What we prefer are shortcuts. “Bakit pa natin pahihirapan ang sarili natin, kung pwede na yang ganito?” (why make it difficult for ourselves if this is good enough). “God enough” is the problem. “Good enough” is the result of complacency. A repetitive cycle of “good enough”, deserves no breakthrough.
Lack of initiative, assertiveness, and integrity.
Statements like:
- “Kahit ano pa ang gawin natin, kung hindi rin naman susunod ang lahat, bale wala rin.”
- “Ok lang yan, bakit siya / sila hindi nahuhuli.” / “Kung pwede nilang gawin yun, dapat ako rin.”
- “Bakit ko pa gagawing problema yan, eh siya nga hindi nahuhuli…” “Biro mo, nakalusot yan, dapat ako rin”
- “Paano ko pagsasabihan siya? Mukha namang mabait, pala-ngiti naman, at namimigay pa ng mga gamit sa mga nangangailangan.”
- “Huwag na’ting isumbong yan, malakas ang kapit nyan.”
- “Kapag sinumbong ko siya, baka personalin ako, at kapag ako naman ang nagkamali, isusumbong din ako o baka hindi ako tulungan. Wala naman talagang perpekto di ba.”
- “Huwag pagsabihan o isumbong yan, baka gumanti yan sa’kin, idamay pa ang negosyo o pamilya ko.”
- “Hayaan mo na, ganyan talaga yang mga klase ng turista na yan, nagbabayad naman sila eh.”
It’s recognizable that these statements are coming from poor governance, misuse of camaraderie, emotional sensitivity, and misconception of a sense of gratitude. After all, we just wanted to keep our livelihood and have a harmonious life; so we “do what the Romans do.” The comments above were brought up not to blame anyone, but for the sake of addressing the sense behind. Self-awareness is essential so that every time we think of something like the comments above; we know we have to do something about it.
Tourists with bad behaviors are in other places too, and it’s not just the Chinese. Being stern on all tourists (both foreign and local) showing noncompliance would be helpful giving them a signal to respect the place/environment. Focus on how to discipline tourists encouragingly while we set aside our emotions thinking on whether they’ll respect us or not. Concentrate on how we can maintain a clean environment, and it would help if we start it through ourselves up to the point that it’s like more of a reflex to us. Let’s not overbend ourselves. It’s not our fault when there is a desire inside of us being liked or respected, that’s just how our social norms raised us. Being liked and respected feels good. However, there are some cases that our emotions are less important than what we’re determined to do because we want things to work, we want situations to happen. Don’t misinterpret this as anti-hospitality. Remember, not setting limitations is strong enough to put things out of control. And besides, the island is profitable enough to afford task force to impose discipline on noncompliant or aggressive tourists.
Poor governance, and a corrupted system.
An issue where DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government) is most active, investigating those officials who allowed problems to happen; either through negligence or violating the law.
- “Hayaan ko na lang yan, kapag hindi ko inaprubahan ito o kapag hindi ko tinganggap ito (pera), yung ibang opisyal ang mag-aapruba nito, at kung nagkataong mas mataas pa sa akin yung ibang opisyal na yun, baka pag-initan pa ako, at ako pa ang lalabas na masama. Mabuti pa’t sa akin na lang mapunta ang pera.”
- “Bakit ko hindi aaprubahan ito, eh yung iba nga nakalusot eh.”
- “Matagal na kaming humihingi ng tulong sa gobyerno, kaso wala namang nagyayari.”
We are all aware that we had a history of poor governance. In fact, it was worse enough that we couldn’t blame some pessimistic citizens for being who they are, but we have our share of the blame too – we’re lenient, and we didn’t fight hard enough. We can only do our best fighting a flawed system, especially if the surrounding sociopolitical conditions are not conducive to do what’s appropriate. There’s nothing illegal to keep on blaming whoever we think is responsible for the island’s mess. No matter how much we blame those individuals, that’s not going to do anything. In fact, it’s counter-productive. Losing a livelihood can be depressing; however, we can’t allow our past to drag us for better future.
Making personal problems as someone else’s dilemma. The art of bu//$#!+ special requests and a bunch of “please.” Worse, the cycle continues once authorities are gone.
The mindset that some of us possess; as if things should always work out just fine as long as we ask, or state an emotional appeal. Also, other violators tend to name-drop “prominent” citizens as their way of dealing with the authorities, hoping they could get away of their violation. This is unacceptable, and this should be stopped! As long as we keep on allowing this to happen, we will never going to get used to following rules and regulations.
- “Sige na po sir, baka pwede na itong ganito kasi… (magsasabi o magdadahilan ng pansariling problema)”
- “Pakiusap, kasi (ganito), kasi ganyan…”
- “Ok lang yan, makisuap na lang tayo.”
- “Baka pwede naman tayong makiusap, baka sakaling makalusot.”
- “Kilala ko si… Baka pwedeng pakiusapan.”
- “Tinulungan natin dati yan, siguradong pwede nating pakiusapan yan.”
- “Sige na sir, hindi na mauulit. Meron kasing…”
- “Heto na sir, kaya nga nakikiusap na eh. Hindi na po mauulit.”
A misconception of OUR HOME.
The Philippines is our home, and we all agree that when we’re in our home, we should be comfortable. Here’s another problem among us, our understanding of being comfortable, affects our behavior towards abiding with rules and regulations, and our views in taking care of our country.
- “Lubhang hindi makatao itong ginagawa nila, pinalayas ako sa sarili kong lupang sinilangan.”
- “Ano?! Pagbabawalan akong gumawa ng (ganito)…?! Pinagmamalupitan ako sa sarili kong bansa – ating tahanan, na ating pinaglaban!”
It is reasonable enough to do what someone can do as an individual, especially if the surroundings are not conducive enough to do what’s appropriate enough. Fighting a flawed system alone could affect someone else’s livelihood (at least that’s a common concern). And why would that someone fight the system if there’s no good governance backing them up? Forget about good governance, what about having a better flow of leadership? – Something to think about as we fondle the idea of Federalism.
Businesses, welfare, and what’s in it for insurance companies.
Given the fact that the locals’ livelihood will be affected, the call for declaring a state of calamity is a brilliant idea to expedite funds for social welfare, therefore cutting red tape.
Businesses, not its incorporators (usually high net-worth individuals) will surely get affected by the closure as well. Since insurance expenses are considered deductibles (in the Philippines), it’s unclear to us whether payouts from business insurances are taxable. For example, in other countries, it is usually taxable because what businesses pay for insurances can be deductibles. No business means no revenue. No business means no income tax for its employees. This would be like a loss of receivables for government funds. Those collections could have helped fund infrastructure projects, educational programs, military modernization projects, or simply pay our lenders from the foreign aid we received.
In the case of Macau-based Galaxy Entertainment Group (GEG) building an integrated casino resort, it seems that this has been a target issue by some of the critics labeling the current administration as being unfair. It’s easy to feel suspicious and draw some conspiracy behind it. However, the Galaxy Entertainment Group won’t stand a chance to build the casino resort mainly if it wasn’t issued a provisional gaming license from PAGCOR (provisional license only, because it has to comply with the environmental regulations in connection with the construction first. Not to mention that it’s just the beginning of the long process before a notice to commence can be given), and doesn’t comply with SEC rules, which allow foreign equity up to a maximum of 40% only (Foreign ownership Negative-B list).
GEG’s venture with our local Leisure and Resorts World Corp. (LSRW) would provide a positive contribution to our local economy starting from creating jobs.
In terms of insurances, these are not something new to those individuals living or have their businesses near the high-risk calamity areas. As residents get a job, means an improving purchasing capacity. Hopefully. Insurance-providers can use this incident as their starting pitch on why workers should have employment-related insurances, not just on the island of Boracay, but also to the rest of the country. There are just some activities that an employee can’t control such as lack of action from the government and their employer’s secret operations. Things that we can’t control or events that happen at no fault of someone is the gap that insurance companies are trying to fill. This works with business insurances as well. No matter how compliant the business is, if there are substantial damages that would affect the business coming from the outside of its scope (in this case the complete closure of the island), then at least the business entity can still receive cash from the insurance company. This would be helpful keeping up with the maintenance especially if government agencies upgrade the infrastructure of the island that might affect the business’ aesthetic landscape (property insurance), or maybe to lessen the negative impact of the company’s share value (business interruption insurance). And if for example, the business acts as a supplier of goods (i.e., food), the supplier can be protected through credit insurance. We’re talking about the small to medium enterprise, the big ones probably know more about this. Please don’t get the impression that these insurances are for the big ones only. The insurance premiums for each business might vary depending on the amount coverage the owner/manager wants to receive for their business. If the business is earning more than enough, then perhaps it’s time to get out from the mentality of “good enough”.
We’ll always hear the tug-of-war between insurers not paying out, and policyholders misunderstanding their insurances, not to mention if the damages created were intentional (e.g., a nearly bankrupt business was intentionally burnt to get a payout – arson). No wonder insurers have enough reasons to be strict. However, we have a common ground here; there are a lot of factors out there that we can not control spanning from weak governance, effects of calamity, third-party noncompliance, accidents, death, you name it, try to read a sample of an insurance policy.
Insurance companies can be multinational companies and are enormous especially when placed in the Philippines’ landscape. According to the new law RA 10881, 100% foreign ownership is allowed to financing companies, and this includes insurance companies. The minimum capital requirement is gradually increasing as well. With this, it should give confidence to the public that it shouldn’t be hard for insurance companies to give payouts, as long as it satisfies the policy. The policy, however, can be misinterpreted. So it’s important for the policyholders or beneficiaries to understand it the way the insurance provider is trying to tell, a.k.a. “both parties should be on the same page.” We are glad that there are hotlines (could be in the form of “Contact Us”), Frequently Asked Questions, and viewing of soft copies of someone’s policy online are already available. But since we’re officially bilingual anyway, it would be nice to have an option for the plans to be translated into Tagalog. We haven’t heard of any insurance policy translated in Tagalog so far.
Be encouraging, support key departments.
Another problem in the Philippines’ social landscape is we let pessimists and the crabs berate key individuals who we think did or are doing a good job. We understand that arguing with individuals can be a waste of time or as someone might experience it, unnecessary stress. Worry less about that because we’re not mandated to explain ourselves. As simple as expressing that you like what they’re doing, should be sufficient enough to encourage key individuals doing a good job. And this could only mean that we like what they did or currently doing related to Boracay’s rehabilitation, not necessarily liking them as a person. When we encourage them, means we’re glad about keeping them. When we’re glad about keeping them, they’re free to stay. That’s how you attract talents! That’s how you keep talents from leaving out of the country! There is purpose in the Philippines.
Personally, I’m thankful for our government inter-agencies’ effort that lead them to prudent measures in a comprehensive way. And of course, these measures would not be initiated without our President Rodrigo Duterte’s swift execution.
Department of Environment and Natural Resources
by Secretary Roy Cimatu
Department of Public Works and Highways
by Secretary Mark Villar
Department of the Interior and Local Government
by Officer-In-Charge Eduardo Año
Department of Labor and Employment
by Secretary Silvestre Bello III
and the Department of Tourism
I also applaud the openness of the locals of the Boracay Island, and the Boracay Foundation Inc. through allowing the rehabilitation program happen smoothly. Nonetheless, regardless of his firm’s interests, we’re lucky to have individuals like Felino “Jun” Palafox for his relentless interest sharing his views on making our infrastructure better.
As the Philippines continues to develop, the risks of over-development should always weigh-in on decisions that we make. It’s a sign of maturity, and it’s a manifestation that we learned from irresponsible capitalism or should we say, the unintended consequences of our actions.
J. Letre
Sources:
CNN
Philippines closes ‘cesspool’ tourist…
CNN Philippines
On the Record: Boracay from Paradise to cesspool?
Boracay closure to start on April…
Mashable
Philippines temporarily closes…
Rappler
Manila Times
ABS CBN News
Boracay rehabilitation would take…
Govt urged: Develop Boracay alternatives…
SCMP
Is Duterte putting thousands out of work…
Philstar
SC asked to stop Boracay shotdown
New law no allows full foreign ownership…
Security and Exchange Commission
Promulgating the tenth regular foreign investment negative list
Norton Rose Fulbright
Insurance Regulation in Philippines
PAGCOR
Galaxy Entertainment Group and Leisure & Resorts World gets…
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