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E-Mall!
E-Mall!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
The DENR: Force or Farce?
If you follow the news on the DENR's effort for a sustainable, ecologically friendly development in Boracay, you may think they are really doing something and everything goes in the right direction. For example The Inquirer's headline reads
Well, you are being mislead.
On February 11, 2008 the DENR issued a notice to the public stating the unlawfulness of the filling-up of a water body in a wetland in Bolabog. The notice reads:
The notice was also issued in Tagalog:
The above picture of the two notice boards were made on February 16, 2008. Only four days later, on February 20 the notice had been removed.
To our knowledge, nobody has been charged with the removal of the notice. In the meantime...
Why is this not being stopped?
Why does the national media not report on these criminal acts?
Well, you are being mislead.
On February 11, 2008 the DENR issued a notice to the public stating the unlawfulness of the filling-up of a water body in a wetland in Bolabog. The notice reads:
NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC
THE ONGOING FILLING-UP OF WATER BODY AND CONSTRUCTION OF STRUCTURES WERE ISSUED A NOTICE IN VIOLATION OF EXISTING LAWS AND REGULATION BY DENR EFFECTIVE FEBRUARY 11, 2008
CONTINUOUS CONSTRUCTION OF STRUCTURES, FILLING-UP OF WATER BODY AND REMOVAL OF THIS NOTICE SHALL BE DEALT WITH ACCORDINGLY.
The notice was also issued in Tagalog:
BABALA
ANG PATULOY NA PAGTAMBAK SA "LAGOON" AT PAGPAPATAYO NG PROYEKTO DITO MAHIGPIT NA PINAGBABAWAL ALINSUNOD SA BATAS NA INPINATUTUPAD NG DENR
The above picture of the two notice boards were made on February 16, 2008. Only four days later, on February 20 the notice had been removed.
To our knowledge, nobody has been charged with the removal of the notice. In the meantime...
...construction work has been ongoing...
...mature trees are being cut down...
...and the lake is being pumped dry.
All of the pictures above have been taken AFTER the DENR's "crackdown"!
All of the pictures above have been taken AFTER the DENR's "crackdown"!
Why is this not being stopped?
Why does the national media not report on these criminal acts?
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
The "Not Wetland" Lie
The DENR is currently having a hard time in trying to stop the destruction of a wetland for commercial use. Boracay Crown Regency Hotels and Convention Center is about to lay dry a lake on a one hectare property in Barangay Balabag in order to develop 60 apartment units on the site.
The DENR is trying to stop the project arguing the property's tax declaration was wrongfully issued because the site is a natural wetland. However, according to an Inquirer.net article, the Crown Regency's lawyer Deolito Alvarez denies the property is on a wetland. Alvarez says water was diverted to the property from a wetland across the road.
Time for Boracay Eco Watch to do a short investigation. A neighbor of the property who lived on the site for all his life confirms us that the wetland has always been at this location. No diversion took place. In fact we saw a little stream that went through the neighbor's garden which feeds the lake and comes from the opposite direction of "the wetland across" referred to by Alvarez. On further investigation more such streams (albeit dried up at the time) were found. So really the lake is not being fed by means of diversion, the company is just blatantly lying in order to stop or at least delay the DENR's effort.
The recent flooding in areas around Boracay's D'Mall, a site that also used to be a wetland before being laid dry, has shown us the problems associated with wetland being destroyed. In the rainy season the water just has to go somewhere so it will flood something else. In other words the neighbors of the land filled site are the losers in this game.
Editor's Note: We thought the lie about the wetland was a good opener for this blog. The wetland reclamation project being discussed here will be covered by us in more detail in the future, so watch out for this. In the meantime, you can join the effort at Facebook where we have uploaded more photographs of the wetland being filled up.
The DENR is trying to stop the project arguing the property's tax declaration was wrongfully issued because the site is a natural wetland. However, according to an Inquirer.net article, the Crown Regency's lawyer Deolito Alvarez denies the property is on a wetland. Alvarez says water was diverted to the property from a wetland across the road.
Time for Boracay Eco Watch to do a short investigation. A neighbor of the property who lived on the site for all his life confirms us that the wetland has always been at this location. No diversion took place. In fact we saw a little stream that went through the neighbor's garden which feeds the lake and comes from the opposite direction of "the wetland across" referred to by Alvarez. On further investigation more such streams (albeit dried up at the time) were found. So really the lake is not being fed by means of diversion, the company is just blatantly lying in order to stop or at least delay the DENR's effort.
The recent flooding in areas around Boracay's D'Mall, a site that also used to be a wetland before being laid dry, has shown us the problems associated with wetland being destroyed. In the rainy season the water just has to go somewhere so it will flood something else. In other words the neighbors of the land filled site are the losers in this game.
Editor's Note: We thought the lie about the wetland was a good opener for this blog. The wetland reclamation project being discussed here will be covered by us in more detail in the future, so watch out for this. In the meantime, you can join the effort at Facebook where we have uploaded more photographs of the wetland being filled up.
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