MANILA, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Philippine authorities has threatened to close down a number of islands resorts in the Philippines, including the world famous island Boracay, as many commercial establishments there are polluting the environment especially due to sewerage problems.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque told a news conference on Thursday that President Rodrigo Duterte ordered Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu during last week's cabinet meeting six months to address the non-compliance of business establishments to environmental regulations.
The palm-studded island of Boracay in Aklan province in the central Philippines, which consistently voted by travel magazines as one of the top tourist destinations because of its powdery white sandy beach and warm crystalline waters, is a famous destination for Chinese and South Korean tourists.
Helen Catalbas, the director of the Department of Tourism in Western Visayas, told Xinhua that 375,284 Chinese tourists visited Boracay last year, for the first, surpassing by 5.32 percent the 356,644 South Korean tourists who visited the island.
Data also showed that tourist arrivals on the island hit a new record high, increasing by 16 percent last year from the 1.72 million visitors recorded in 2016.
However, President Duterte called Boracay a "cesspool" and threatened to "close" the popular beach island resort if nothing is done to improve the sewer problem there in six months.
"I will close Boracay. Boracay is a cesspool," Duterte told a forum in Davao City last Friday.
"You go into the water, it's smelly. Smell of what? Shit. Because everything that goes out in Boracay...it's destroying the environment or the Republic of the Philippines and creating a disaster coming," Duterte said then.
"(Duerte) did mention that Boracay was very dirty and that he was putting the blame on local government officials (who) implement relevant laws and regulations on the protection of the environment," Roque said on Thursday.
The environment secretary said that his department has issued notices of violation to 51 establishments in Boracay, requiring them to have "technical conference" with its Pollution Adjudication Bureau within the week.
Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo lauded Duterte's directive, saying "it is high time to order the closure of some 200 tourism establishments in Boracay found violating environmental laws and regulations."
Aside from Boracay, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has threatened to close two other famous island resorts in Siargao Island in Surigao del Norte in the southern Philippine and Coron in Palawan due to sewage disposal systems.
"We hope that efforts for Boracay clean-up will resonate to our private stakeholders in other destinations to ensure full compliance of environment and eco-tourism laws," Teo said.
