White sand, blue waters

PRES. DUTERTE ASSURED

BORACAY REOPENS OCT. 26

President Rody Duterte has been assured by Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu that the rehabilitation and clean-up of Boracay Island is on schedule and the world famous tourism destination could be reopened on Oct. 26.

During the 26th Cabinet Meeting, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat asked whether the island could accept tourists when the 6-month clean-up period ends on Oct. 26.

President Duterte then referred the question to DENR Sec. Cimatu who said that the clean-up was on schedule.

Sec. Cimatu today issued an announcement posted on the Facebook Page “Unite Pinas” confirming what he earlier told the President.

Here is the post which appeared in Unite Pinas Page:

“LOOK: Boracay to reopen by October: Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu

Businesses in Boracay Island may already accept bookings for Oct. 27 onwards, said Roy Cimatu, environment secretary and head of the inter-agency task force for Boracay’s rehabilitation.

Rehab works update:

Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu said water quality on the island’s White Beach is already improving based on the regular monitoring conducted by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB).”

Congratulations Sec. Roy Cimatu and the members of the InterAgency Task Force.

Thank you President Duterte for the political will to effect change!

(Clarification: The photos attached to this article which were downloaded from the Facebook Page Unite Pinas are NOT new but file photos of Boracay. These photos accompanied a post made by Unite Pinas on the scheduled reopening of Boracay which I honestly thought were updated photos. The Facebook Page Unite Pinas did not provide an attribution for the photos, leading me to assume that the photos were taken by the administrators of the page. There was no intention to mislead the readers and I apologize for the confusion this may have caused. Also, there was no intention to infringe on the rights of the persons who took the photos. However, to provide readers of this page an update on the progress of the Clean Up in Boracay Island, the Regional Agriculture and Fisheries Information Division documentation team of DA Region VI has been dispatched to the island to take videos and photos. These updated videos and photos will be posted shortly. All photos were downloaded from the Facebook Page @Unite Pinas.Sec Manny Piñol)