ILOILO CITY — The Environmental Management Bureau in Western Visayas (EMB-6) has already issued 478 notices to establishments in Boracay island, Malay, Aklan for violating environmental laws.
Of the number, 157 were already endorsed to the Pollution Adjudication Board (PAB), said Lawyer Ramar Niel Pascua, chief of the Legal Division of EMB-6.
“But eventually all of them will be endorsed to PAB for computation of fines,” he said in a press conference Tuesday.
Out of the 157 violations endorsed to PAB, 35 had already been slapped with penalties ranging from PHP60,000 to PHP80,000, he said.
Pascua said that another batch of 23 violations will be endorsed to PAB within this week.
The notices issued included violations of the Philippine Clean Water Act, Philippine Clean Air Act and for operating without an environmental compliance certificate, he added.
However, Pascua cannot determine the exact number of establishments that received notices of violations. He said that some of the establishments received two or more notices.
However, he said the PAB has not filed any criminal charges against the establishments. “The discretion is with them (PAB),” he said.
Pascua also said there are no more notices of violation to be issued to establishments on the island.
“We have already saturated the entire Boracay, those were only the violations that we received here in the legal (division),” he said.
Pascua reminded establishments, especially those on the front beach, to comply with the Memorandum Circular No. 2018-06 of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources so they will be allowed to operate during the reopening of the island ths coming October 26.
Under the memorandum, establishments from the island’s stations with 50 rooms and above are required to have their own sewage treatment plant (STP) while those with 49 rooms and below to have clustered STP.
Pascua said that they have identified 192 establishments on the front beach that need to comply with the memorandum. (Cindy Ferrer/PNA)
