MOALBOAL executives are singing a familiar refrain in resisting to implement the law that prohibits structures from being built within the 20-meter easement zone in agricultural areas.
In resisting to implement Presidential Decree 1067 (Water Code of the Philippines), Moalboal Mayor Inocentes “Titing” Cabaro is claiming that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has failed to furnish the local government a list of the establishments violating the mandated easement.
Yet, as the authority issuing clearances and building and business permits, the local government unit should be the first to detect and prevent a firm from breaking the law.
Instead of explaining this governance conundrum, the Moalboal Municipal Council passed a resolution petitioning DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu to show “a little kindness” to delinquent businesses, as well as seeking to reduce the easement zone, reported Elias O. Baquero and Vanessa L. Almeda in SunStar Cebu last June 27.
Demolishing the illegal structures will have repercussions on the tax collection of the municipality, as well as on the livelihood of residents depending on the influx of tourists, argued Cabaro.
The priorities of Moalboal’s local leadership tilt heavily away from “sustainable development” to favor the “community survival,” the irony behind this binary juxtaposition apparently lost to Cabaro and the rest of the Moalboal Municipal Council. In the long term, there can be no survival for a community that does not safeguard the ecology.
Is Boracay not sufficient as a lesson on sustainable tourism?
When the island was reopened in October 2018 after a six-month closure, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat was reported as saying that one of the “blessings” of the enforced rehabilitation and redevelopment of Boracay was the people’s initiation into the principles of sustainable tourism.
As reported by ABS-CBN on June 28, Romulo-Puyat underscored the lessons of Boracay: environment protection is crucial for tourism-dependent communities through the implementation of easements, smoking and drinking bans, and the area’s carrying capacity.
In February 2018, President Rodrigo Duterte called Boracay a “cesspool,” echoing the criticism of some residents and environmentalists that the waters along the beaches of the international tourism attraction were extremely polluted and toxic to people’s health.
Moalboal’s prominence as a top tourist destination in the south of Cebu began in the 1980s, with the emergence of Panagsama Beach resort and later known as the Basdiot and Basdaku beaches that drew both domestic and foreign visitors.
The four decades that Moalboal has led and commanded the southern Cebu trail in ecotourism has reaped economic windfalls but also social and environmental scourges for the community. Prostitution, crime, spread of sexually transmitted infections, and recently, the environmental hazards posed by illegally constructed structures are more than enough red flags to alert the residents and leaders of Moaboal that the community must take stock of its tourism industry if it desires to sustain this growth industry without its afflictions and hazards.
According to Republic Act 9593, or the Tourism Act of 2009, “sustainable tourism development” means an industry that must be “ecologically sustainable, responsible, participative, culturally sensitive, economically viable, and ethically and socially equitable for local communities.”
Developing “responsible tourism” means involving all stakeholders: the community, indigenous people, people’s organizations, non-government organisations, and the private sector to plan and implement with the public sector activities and plans that conserve bio-physical and cultural diversity, promote environmental education and advocacy, and distribute benefits from tourism for all stakeholders.
Moalboal’s people and leaders must work together to redefine and secure the town’s future beyond short-term gains.