Beach bums
Splendid news that the government is finally doing something about Boracay.
That pristine island has been raped and pillaged too long, and it's time that the perps face the consequences of their actions. For those polluters, encroachers and land-grabbers that have pillaged and profited, this seems to be their come-uppance, as the government begins to demolish their illegal structures.
I'm so looking forward to visiting the island again, without having to avert my eyes or groan inwardly at the sights and sounds greeting present-day visitors. Then I can start believing, again, that Boracay is indeed one of the best islands in the world.
After that exercise, where next? Would it be possible to suggest to the national government that it train its sights on Cebu, including Mactan Island?
I would hazard the guess that there are multiple polluters and beach grabbers in these isles. That's not a hard conclusion to reach, considering the beaches here have fences and rock perimeters, aside from armed guards and firepower. Access to those beaches isn't exactly available to the public. In fact, some resorts require payment of a hefty fee just to enter and walk on their pearly white sand. (Ok, maybe they did spend money to import the nice white sand and dump that over the ordinarily blah rocks, but surely the beach itself is public property?)
Plus, the amount of polluters lined up along the shore! I wonder what an environmental audit would turn up. Like Annie, I bet my bottom dollar that there are manufacturers discharging waste straight into the ocean. Would the government be able to buckle down and start the much more difficult process of cleaning up the environment? Would they be able to audit each and every one? Would they be able to close all the polluters? Or would the environmentalists turn a blind eye after having been wined and dined?
Of course, Cebu's powerful property owners would be hard to run afoul of, but that was what we thought of the political clans in Negros as well. The clout of those hotel and resort owners in Boracay, long bruited to be considerable and seemingly insurmountable, has suddenly evaporated. The powerful clans (and rich foreign businessmen) were unable to stop the juggernaut of Philippine enforcement landing hard on their pearly shores. (Unless that clout is, as we speak, being deployed very delicately.)
Would the Cebu equivalents have better chances if the president and his men switched their focus to these islands? That would be an interesting spectacle to witness.
The Cebu vested interests won't be able to whine and grumble that imperial Manila is yet again coming to the south to dictate its will. Imperial Manila is in the hands, not of a Manila old guard, but a fellow southern stakeholder, and so that particular levers can't be manipulated. What would Cebu's powers employ to shield themselves from the same kind of scrutiny now being suffered by Boracay?
There are already multiple problems in Cebu that is stressed with unplanned and uncontrolled over development. Addressing the beaches and shores won't even solve half of them. But to beach bums like us, that would be like a thousand lawyers under the sea.
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