Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu wants a one-year extension for the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force (BIATF) pending the creation of a permanent regulatory body that shall oversee the island’s sustainable development and balanced growth.
Cimatu, as BIATF chairperson, said the term extension would allow the task force to complete all its projects that have been stalled by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
The task force passed a resolution, which has been submitted to President Rodrigo Duterte for his approval, to extend the term of the task force for another year.
The task force is co-chaired by the Department of Tourism and Department of the Interior and Local Government. It was created on May 8, 2018 under Executive Order No. 53.
Its term was supposed to end in 2020, two years after its creation, but the President issued EO No. 115 on May 11, 2020, extending its term until May 8, 2021.
“We have been hoping that all the good work we have done in Boracay would be continued and sustained by a more permanent body,” Cimatu said.
“We have accomplished much since this body was created by our President Rodrigo Duterte on May 8, 2018 with the mission of ensuring the rehabilitation and ecological sustainability of Boracay Island after its degeneration into a cesspool as a result of a few decades of runaway and haphazard development,” he added.
The DENR chief said the BIATF Bill on the creation of the Boracay Island Development Authority (BIDA) is currently pending in Congress.
The BIATF has also submitted its position paper explaining its preference for its proposed bill over seven other versions submitted to the legislative chamber.
“We are urging the House of Representatives to pass the BIATF Bill,” Cimatu said.