Malacañang has pictured Boracay as a “lesson of political will” and “a lesson of neglect, misfeasance, and mafeasance” by unidentified persons of responsibility in office.
READ: New, improved Boracay: DENR chief exhorts people to learn some lesson
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo issued the statement Saturday, a day after the paradise island was reopened to local and foreign tourists after six months when it underwent rehabilitation.
In a related development, Public Works Secretary Mark Villar said the widening of roads on the island was almost 80 percent complete, including the installation of drainage pipes.
“The cesspool that was Boracay would not have happened if political will was exhibited by those in authority and if only officials of the island paradise, as well as the stakeholders, operated following the law and the rules and regulations of pertinent government agencies,” Panelo said in a statement released to media.
“It has to take the strong and decisive leadership of the President [Rodrigo Duterte] to put things in order and we should all learn from these lessons so that Boracay will become an attraction not only in this country but in the world,” he said.
Malacañang also reiterated the President was “pleased” with the results of the inter-agency government efforts on Boracay.
“We commend the different departments for the evolution and development of Boracay, as well as the patience and cooperation of everyone,” Panelo said.
Duterte earlier criticized local officials and other stakeholders in Boracay for alleged neglect that turned the world-renowned island resort into what he described as a “cesspool.”
Meanwhile, Villar said the government was expecting to finish concreting of the roads “maybe in one month, more or less [when] the road works would be completed.”