Public needs clear govt action on Panglao, El Nido
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2018 16:25:52 +0000
Unlike the decisive action by the government to shut down, rehabilitate and reopen Boracay island to tourism, recreation and business, the Cabinet statements on Panglao and El Nido are confusing and not reassuring to the public.
When Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo declared in a statement that there is no need for President Rodrigo Duterte “to issue an executive order for the rehabilitation of Panglao Island in Bohol and El Nido in Palawan,” or that the Cabinet members have agreed on the non-action, he did not clarify the matter.
A week ago, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat publicly declared the government has ordered a ban on swimming in two particular beaches in Panglao and El Nido.
She explained that the Alona Beach in Panglao and Buena Suerte Beach in El Nido contained high levels of coliform, stressing that the swimming ban would be in effect “until the coliform levels are acceptable.”
Despite Puyat’s declaration, no such Executive Order has been issued in fact.
And now comes Secretary Panelo saying the Cabinet members have agreed that an EO was no longer necessary for the government to rehabilitate both Panglao and El Nido.
Should the public take his statement as a declaration of policy or a form of government action?
At this point, the government position on the situation was still woefully unclear. It has not said whether the situation in Panglao and El Nido is similar to the problem faced by Boracay that prompted its shutdown and rehabilitation.
It has not said whether the combined action of several departments will again be necessary, as in Boracay.
The trouble probably lies in several cabinet secretaries talking at the same time and not singing the same song. Secretary Puyat sings one tune, while Panelo and other Cabinet secretaries evidently sing other tunes.
Coliform is a type of bacteria that comes from human or animal feces. It can cause diarrhea and other water-borne diseases that can be fatal to children.Puyat explained that the coliform levels in Panglao and El Nido have exceeded the acceptable count, which is 88 per 100 milliliter (mL) in any one sample.
Then she declared that the ban is part of a government effort to rehabilitate the beaches of El Nido and Panglao — a rehabilitation that, to our knowledge, has not yet been formally announced.
It is at this point that the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force has gotten into the picture. The force, composed of Puyat, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu and Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, declared that El Nido faces environmental problems similar to Boracay, such as the easement of shoreline, waste disposal management and overcrowding.
Panglao, the force said, also suffers from environmental problems because of unregulated development, lax enforcement of laws, and large influx of tourist arrivals.
The Panelo intervention now appears to be irrelevant and unnecessary.
The task force says it does not plan to totally shut down Panglao and El Nido, as it did in the case of Boracay, which was closed to the public for six months.
A decision not to issue an executive order does not require a public statement by the spokesman. If and when the President decides to act, that would be the time for him to talk.
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