{"id":152673,"date":"2018-02-14T01:06:58","date_gmt":"2018-02-14T06:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=152673"},"modified":"2018-02-14T01:06:58","modified_gmt":"2018-02-14T06:06:58","slug":"cimatu-to-shut-down-300-business-establishments-in-boracay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/02\/14\/cimatu-to-shut-down-300-business-establishments-in-boracay\/","title":{"rendered":"Cimatu to shut down 300 business establishments in Boracay"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Environment<\/a>
Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu on Tuesday ordered the immediate shut down of 300 business establishments in the island for not complying with environmental laws. (Photo<\/a>: Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In line with President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s order to address environmental woes in Boracay within six months, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu on Tuesday ordered the immediate shut down of 300 business establishments in the island for not complying with environmental laws.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis morning, I ordered the regional director of Region 6 \u2014 the immediate issuance of notice of violations and closure of all Boracay establishments which violated the Clean Water Act and failed to connect \u2014 waste water to the sewage system,\u201d Cimatu was quoted as saying in a GMA News report.<\/p>\n

Environment Undersecretary Jonas Leones said that business establishments may appeal the order and they will be given a deadline to fix their violations. Leones added that the Pollution and Adjudication Board will issue a cease and desist order if they fail to solve their shortcomings.<\/p>\n

Cimatu gave the commercial buildings two months to conform to environmental provisions of the law as the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (DENR) is committed to immediately finish the assessments of such establishment that may be releasing untreated sewage causing pollution into the waters of the world-famous beach.<\/p>\n

In a separate speech during the launch of the Green Film Festival in Quezon City, the Environment Secretary said they will continue doing the process to solve the issue in Boracay, including the wastewater.<\/p>\n

\u201cAyoko na hindi matupad na utos ni Presidente. Inutos ko na ito sa<\/em> regional director so expect na umpisa na itong ating<\/em> campaign (I don\u2019t want the President\u2019s order not to be fulfilled. I ordered the regional director so expect that this will be the start of our campaign). I\u2019m cleaning the environmental problem of Boracay starting with the sewage system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Cimatu also said that he already instructed his department\u2019s undersecretaries to have a discussion with the Ayala Group who are the concessionaire of the wastewater system in the island.<\/p>\n

He vowed to finish addressing the problems within the prescribed period set by Duterte.<\/p>\n

\u201cKakayanin ko talaga kasi katulad ng mga estudyante na binigyan sila ng oras na mag-aral sa (<\/em>I can do it just like how students are given time to study in)\u00a0school,\u00a0\u2018finish or not finish pass your paper.\u00a0Parang ganun lang sa akin yun <\/em>(It is the same with me).<\/em> I have to do my best to complete it within 6 months,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Duterte threatened to close the popular tourist destination, calling it a \u201ccesspool,\u201d if the island\u2019s environmental woes will not be addressed in six months.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will close Boracay. Boracay is a cesspool,\u201d Duterte said during the Manila Times\u2019 Business Forum in Davao City.<\/p>\n

The Chief Executive then accused local governments in the popular White Beach of being responsible for pollution in the area, saying that he would file complaints against them for \u201cserious neglect of duty\u201d as they were not able to maintain a clean environment.<\/p>\n

The President also said that local government officials are being too \u201czealous\u201d in approving construction of various commercial establishments on the island without proper sewerage system.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou allowed buildings to be constructed without the proper sewerage\u2026.You created a disaster there,\u201d Duterte stressed.<\/p>\n

The Chief Executive gave an ultimatum to the local executives and the DENR.<\/p>\n

\u201cEither they clean it up or I will close it permanently,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In line with President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s order to address environmental woes in Boracay within six months, Environment and Natural Resources …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":152709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5927,1145,16,95],"tags":[2747,46550,2444,18916],"class_list":["post-152673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment-nature","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-boracay","tag-establishments","tag-rodrigo-duterte","tag-roy-cimatu","mauthors-joanna-belle-deala","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}