Skip to main content

Panglao Island Environmental Problems

By Romy Teruel

One environmental and tourism issue that will keep on cropping up unless decisive actions are done is the issue of easement along beaches as prescribed by the Water Code of the Philippines.  This has cropped up before and now it is here again.   

The conference that Gov. Erico B. Aumentado held with the hotel and resort owners of Panglao and Dauis last Friday is an example of laws wanting in implementation. While the laws are clear and guidelines are prescribed, willing compliance has remained a problem. 

The Water Code of the Philippines prescribes a 20-meter easement from the high water mark on the beach towards inland where no permanent structure can be constructed whatsoever.  We need not send experts however to know that compliance is more in the breach than observance. 

This prompts observers to ask "What happened to Bohol's thrust on eco-tourism and environmental conservation and protection?"  And this is usually followed by "They are killing the goose that lays the golden egg." 

Indeed yes. Why cant developers not follow the provisions of law?  Bohol's thrust is sustainable tourism.  If the way we see things are done will continue, Bohol's tourism can be a sunset even before it can see sunrise. 

It's better to suffer pain now by setting things straight while things can still be corrected than later when nothing can be done anymore. 

Last Friday's conference with the hotel and resort owners of Panglao should be the last of the sort if we want to bring Bohol to global competitiveness.  Consultations if any would be to find better ways to develop Panglao not to look for solutions to problems.  Resort owners who have violated the easement guidelines and height of buildings should voluntarily comply by demolishing structures and clearing easement spaces. 

Municipal Local Government Units too, in this case Dauis and Panglao, should be firm in the enforcement of the laws and guidelines.  The guidelines are there for a purpose and that purpose is noble and redeeming for the island's generations to come. 

Mayor Benedicto Alcala of Panglao promised to send letters to the violators to "self-correct" or he would send his own demolition crew after 15 days if there is no compliance.  Now that is firm.  Let's see if it can be supported with action. 

But why was Mayor Lulu Bongcalos of Dauis conspicuously absent from the conference? 

On the issue of the public using the beaches fronting the resorts, we understand why the resort owners do not want to give in.  After all they are the ones maintaining the cleanliness of these beaches and would at times assign lifeguards to protect their guests.  But again the law is clear on this.  No one owns the beach and the waters but the State. 

In many popular destinations where beautiful beaches are their attractions, the beaches are open to the public even those in front of hotels and resorts.  The beaches in Phuket, Thailand are open to the public.  The local governments are the ones maintaining the cleanliness of the beaches.  The same is true with Bali in Indonesia. 

Locals in Panglao Island are complaining that because of tourism, they are now deprived of enjoying what used to be free to all to enjoy.  This should not have happened at all if local government units have put in place an ideal land use plan that would have delineated public beaches and access to them.   

MLGUs can also undertake the cleanliness of the beaches so they could be accessible to the public.  But his should be properly integrated in local laws and ordinances for the guidance of investors and developers. 

The Panglao Island Development Guidelines the revision of which was already approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force has made development friendly to both investors and the residents of Panglao Island but the MLGUs are very slow in adopting them. 

Unless there is one coordinated efforts to support the development of Panglao Island as a sustainable tourism destination, there may be a need to consider other sites in the province that are as endowed and beautiful like the Anda Peninsula. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Detonators in Hebei, China

The death toll has risen to eight after Saturday's explosion triggered by detonators illegally manufactured and stored at a residential building in north China's Hebei Province, local authorities said Monday. Five more bodies were retrieved while rescuers were clearing the debris in the city of Baoding, the city government said in a statement late Monday. Another 27 people are still under treatment in hospital, it added. Two suspects, a 38-year-old man surnamed Ge and his 42-year-old girlfriend, turned themselves in to police Monday noon in the eastern province of Anhui. Ge and two relatives started producing detonators in 2009. Due to poor sales, the three stored unsold detonators at a house of the six-storey building in Dongwuyao Village. The explosion that occurred Saturday afternoon toppled part of the building and also shattered the glass windows of buildings 200 meters away.
Post a Comment
Read more

Buried Treasures in Bohol Philippines

Written by Joe Espiritu       Four persons died in a treasure hunting accident last week. They died for nothing. Many had lost their shirts in the venture, the propensity for Filipinos to get rich quick attribute to the treasure hunting mania. The sad part is that only the ignorant venture on the search, those in the know, being sure that nothing will come out of the effort would not think of investing money, time and effort – this time lives – in a fruitless enterprise.        There had been stories of people getting rich uncovering treasure troves in unlikely places. Most stories are false. Ancient graves of archeological and anthropological value had been desecrated by treasure hunters. They had found nothing. Those people may have struck it rich but not from some hidden riches. Contrary to what other people say, there are no buried treasures in Bohol . If there had been, they were unearthed years ago.         If one ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fast Website Speed Affects Google Search Ranking

Over the course of 2009, a consistent theme that Google has been involved with is that of speed. In announcement after announcement, Google has talked about the importance of speed on the web, and how the company wants to do everything it can to make the web a faster place. Has it occurred to you that how fast your page loads may have a direct effect on how your site ranks in Google?  Don't worry, it hasn't had an impact...yet. In an interview with WebProNews , Google's Matt Cutts told us that speed may soon be a ranking factor.  "Historically, we haven't had to use it in our search rankings, but a lot of people within Google think that the web should be fast," says Cutts. "It should be a good experience, and so it's sort of fair to say that if you're a fast site, maybe you should get a little bit of a bonus. If you really have an awfully slow site, then maybe users don't want that as much." "I think a lot of people in 2010 are g...
Post a Comment
Read more