2,849 views

Closure and demolition of parts of the Boracay West Cove ordered by DENR

Remember my May 31, 2011 article on Manny Pacquiao alleged Boracay West Cove lounge sits on top of Cemented age old rock formation?

Ten days after I posted those photos, The Malay Mayor John Yap, town officials and members of the Boracay Special Tourist Police Office ordered the Boracay West Cove closed.

Then another good news today July 20,2012 or a year after I posted the photos. Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo and Environment Secretary Ramon Paje ordered the closure and demolition of parts of the resort for violating the Forest Land Use Agreement for Tourism Purposes (FLAgT) issued by the DENR to the resort in 2009 under then Environment Secretary Joselito Atienza.

Quoting a DENR report, Robredo said West Cove built structures in areas exceeding the 998 square meters covered by the Forest Land Use Agreement for Tourism Purposes (FLAgT) issued by the DENR to the resort in 2009 during the term of then Environment Secretary Joselito Atienza.

Here is a report from Inquirer.net

In what many believed would have been impossible in Boracay, government agencies demolished illegal structures of a posh resort for encroaching on a no-build zone among various other alleged violations of local and environmental laws.

At least 150 officials, policemen and demolition team members tore down parts of Boracay West Cove past 8 a.m. yesterday in Barangay Balabag at the northern end of the island.

The DENR Environmental Management Bureau said the resort built permanent structures in an area covering 3,159 square meters outside the 998-sq m area covered by the FLAgT.

A FLAgT allows the temporary use, occupation and development of any forest land for tourism purposes for 25 years and renewable for another 25 years.

The resort was also ordered closed for operating without business, building and mayor’s permits.
West Cove became controversial for structures built on rock formations and operating for years without permits.

From this beautiful rock formation:


Before rock formation was cemented. Photo via pep.ph


During construction in 2008. Photo Via Katrina Ludwig in Flickr

And this abomination


After cementing the beautiful rock formation

Good to know Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is now exerting its political will. Hope other illegal structures of other Boracay Resorts follow suit.

Thanks for rating this! Now tell the world how you feel - .
How does this post make you feel?
  • Excited
  • Fascinated
  • Amused
  • Bored
  • Sad
  • Angry

Related posts:

Tags: , ,

About Noemi Lardizabal-Dado

View all posts by Noemi Lardizabal-Dado
Disclaimer: The views of Blog Watch bloggers and guest contributors do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editor and the rest of Blog Watch.

You can also get Email Updates of any new posts by adding your email address below:

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Noemi, Editor of Blog Watch and features editor of Philippine Online Chronicles is a 54 year old mother to three kids and is married to Atty. Luis H. Dado. She loves being a full time mother and homemaker after retiring as a Researcher/Consultant from the UP Institute for Small Scale Industries in 1987. Now that her children are all college graduates, she devotes her time to grief support, blogging, new media events and using her blogs to promote online advocacies. Her personal blog is at aboutmyrecovery.com, which garnered numerous awards such as Best Website, Blog Category during the 9th and 10th Philippine Web Awards. Her blog also won in the Blog- Personal Category of the DigitalFilipino.com Web Awards 2007 and Globelines Broadband Family Blog Award (in honor of family-oriented blogging) 2007 Philippine Blog Award. Globe also recognized her as Digital Elder in the 2009 Philippine Blog Award.
advert

Switch to our mobile site