By Francis Allan L. Angelo
RESIDENTS and officials of Malay town in Aklan staged a protest rally Tuesday against the P1-billion reclamation project in Caticlan village, gateway to Boracay Island.
Councilor Jonathan C. Cabrera said the provincial government did not consult the municipal government and Boracay stakeholders during the preparatory stages of the project.
“The provincial government rammed the project down our throats sans consultation despite the ill-effects of the reclamation to the shorelines of Malay and Boracay,” Cabrera said.
Cabrera said they mounted the protest after the contractor of the project began the site embankment works.
The municipal council of Malay has passed a resolution objecting to the project saying it will narrow the 1-kilometer channel between Panay and Boracay, resulting in erosion of the famed beach line of the island resort.
Cabrera said they are preparing a case against the provincial government and the contractor to stop the project.
Major business groups in Boracay – the Boracay Foundation and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) – also urged the provincial government to stop the project and conduct more in-depth studies on its effects on the island resort.
The business groups said developments in the reclamation project will compete with establishments in Boracay.
The Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) allowed last May 17 the provincial government to proceed with the first of five phases of the reclamation project in Caticlan.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has also issued an environment certificate of compliance to the project’s first phase on April 27.
The first phase, which will cost P260 million, includes reclamation of the 2.19-hectare shoreline of the village and development project at the northern end of the jetty port in Caticlan.
The entire project will be implemented in 10 years and has an estimated more than P1 billion covering 36.82 hectares in Caticlan and 3.18 hectares in Boracay. It will feature expanded jetty port facilities, reclamation of coastline areas, and the construction of commercial office buildings, a health and wellness center and other businesses. It would also restore the now eroded coastal zones and prevent erosion near the port.
Roger M. Esto, Aklan provincial planning and development officer, said the project would improve jetty port facilities for inbound tourists of Boracay Island.
Esto said the Environmental Performance Report and Monitoring Program (EPRMP) submitted by the provincial government to the DENR did not indicate any danger posed by the project to Boracay.
Nieven M. Maquirang, Caticlan jetty port administrator, said the provincial government plans to transfer Boracay-bound passengers to the new jetty port in the reclamation project. The existing Caticlan jetty port will serve passengers aboard roll-on roll-off vessels.
Maquirang said the Caticlan jetty port in 2009 accommodated 1.6 million passengers for Boracay and the nautical highway.
“The existing Caticlan jetty port was only designed to handle passengers for the island of Boracay, but, in 2003, the roll-on roll-off vessels started to operate in the jetty port,” he said.
Maquirang said the proposed reclamation project will cater to the increasing tourist arrivals of Boracay Island.
From January to October 2010, a total of 665,000 foreign and domestic tourists arrived in Boracay compared to 250,000 tourists in 2001.
The Aklan provincial government last year signed a bond flotation agreement with the Local Government Unit Guarantee Corp. and Philippine National Bank (PNB) Trust Banking Corp. to raise P260 million for the first phase of the project.
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