Mayor admits they ‘overlooked’ Boracay’s carrying capacity

By Jennifer P. Rendon 

The recent Holy Week showed Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan as alive and kicking once more.

The prime tourist destination and top earner for the Philippines was teeming with tourists and businesses appeared to be back to normal.

But the “normalcy” caught the attention of the Department of Tourism (DOT) after the agency noted that the island exceeded its carrying capacity for tourists.

In a statement, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said they are asking Mayor Frolibar Bautista to explain the island’s overcrowding, citing that “he is answerable to this.”

On Tuesday, Bautista said that he has yet to receive any communication from Romulo-Puyat’s office.

“I will wait for it and we would be submitting our explanation,” he said.

Bautista said they recorded 12,159 tourist arrivals on April 14, Maundy Thursday.

“There are still visitors who haven’t gone out of the island yet. That’s why, there were 21,252 total tourists for April 14,” he said.

The recommended daily threshold for Boracay is 19,215.

By Good Friday, April 15, the number of tourists shot up to 22,519.

“Nag-sobra gid man sa carrying capacity but if we talk about the carrying capacity, there are establishments that are not yet operating so wala pa ang ila mga workers,” Bautista said.

Some Boracay residents have yet to return to the island as well.

Bautista said this could somehow buffer the excess tourists if carrying capacity is to be taken into consideration.

Still, Bautista said “waay ma-monitor, wala ma-control ang tourist arrival (We did not monitor nor control the tourist arrival).”

He said he was also surprised and overwhelmed by the number of tourists.

When asked if who was at fault for what happened, Bautista pointed to the issuance of QR codes to tourists, which serve as contact tracing mechanism of the island.

“They might have forgotten or have overlooked the aspect of carrying capacity,” he said.

They, too, might have been overwhelmed and surprised about the turnout of tourists.

Because tourists have been given QR codes and their documents are in order, they were allowed to enter the island.

“Daw lisod man na nga papulion kay bisita na. May na receive sila nga QR code. Complete man ila papers alangan man papulion mo pa na sila,” he said.

A tourist wanting to enter Boracay must secure a QR code prior to entering the island.

Meanwhile, Bautista said he agrees with “Sec. Puyat that such thing shouldn’t happen.”

The mayor said he would sit down and discuss with concerned agencies to avoid repeating a similar scenario.

Earlier, the DOT has also urged the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to act on possible violations of minimum health and safety protocols.