Manny Pacquiao alleged Boracay West Cove ordered closed by Mayor

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

GOOD NEWS! The Malay Mayor John Yap, town officials and members of the Boracay Special Tourist Police Office ordered the Boracay West Cove closed.

The municipal government of Malay in Aklan on Friday ordered closed a resort in Boracay that has become controversial due to rumors that boxing champion Manny Pacquiao partly owns it and protests over its location in what authorities said was a no-build zone.

I thought no one would notice this abomination (see photos) and violation but thank goodness, the new Mayor of Malay, Aklan took action. The resort reeked with controversy from the start and I am surprised the construction was even allowed to continue on. It also violated the coastline shoreline setback required by law (see page 27) ?

Malay Mayor John Yap, town officials and members of the Boracay Special Tourist Police Office ordered the Boracay West Cove resort to immediately stop its operations for lack of business, building and occupancy permits.

The mayor directed the resort management not to accept new guests after those billeted at the resort have checked out. The officials also warned the resort management that the structures will be padlocked if the closure order is defied.

West Cove owner businessman Crisostomo Aquino said the closure order violated the Forest Land Use Agreement for Tourism Purposes (FLAgT) issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to his resort.

A FLAgT, under the DENR Administrative Order No. 2004-59, allows the temporary use, occupation and development of any forest land for tourism purposes for a period of 25 years renewable for another 25 years.

FLAgT agreement covers forest lands to be used for bathing, campsites, ecotourism destinations, hotel sites and other tourism purposes.

The resort has villas, hugs a cliff and sits on a rock formation at Diniwid Beach in Barangay Yapak, an isolated area on the northern tip of the 1,032-hectare island. It is not visible from tourists and residents at the white beach, whose main entry point is the Cagban port at the opposite end of the island.

I hope the resort will be closed and destroyed then I would want to see concrete action to fix or restore the damage done to the rocks and the coastline.

From this beautiful rock formation:

Before rock formation was cemented. Photo via pep.ph

During construction in 2008. Photo Via Katrina Ludwig in Flickr

Destroy this abomination

After cementing the beautiful rock formation

The resort also seems to violate the coastline shoreline setback

Philippine Law on Shorelines