A Proposal: Lucio Tan and Ramon Ang to Be Adopted by Malay

A resolution is being processed at the Town Council of Malay to formally adopt businessmen Lucio Tan and Ramon Ang.

While some members of the Town Council of Malay questioned whether the donations and assistance from the two businessmen were enough grounds for adoption, no resistance to the resolution was received from the Town Council.

Allegedly, the resolution is under the request of the Mayor of Malay, which is a means of the Local Government Unit (LGU) to acknowledge the environmental programs for Boracay and donations to Boracay from the two.

According to the Town Council, the two businessmen made huge contribution to the Boracay Beach Management Program (BBMP), including the planting of mangroves at Sitio Lugutan, in the Village of Manoc-Manoc.

In addition, since there are also businessmen in Boracay that support the programs of the LGU aside from the two, the Town Council saw nothing wrong for Malay to adopt Tan and Ang.

Red Cross Boracay-Malay Chapter Blood Donation Activity Held Thursday

The Red Cross Boracay-Malay Chapter has received a number of donors.

According to Marlo Schoenenburger, the Red Cross Boracay-Malay Chapter Officer- In-Charge, the still ongoing Blood-letting activity has recorded more than 31 successful blood donors at the Health Center of Malay in the morning.

Schoenenburger said that the Blood-letting activity is in connection to the mandate of the local government of Malay which is to reach its target of 100 blood donors to help the province of Aklan in its need for blood.

Some of the donors were pre screened from the Local Government Unit, Philippine National Police of Malay and Coastguard.

According to the report, the mentioned donors were reminded not to drink alcohol, nor stay up late, and donors with tattoo were not allowed to donate blood to ensure that the donors’ blood were safe and clean.

The donated blood is to be brought to the town of Kalibo and Capiz for testing.

Meawhile, the call from the Red Cross for interested donors to donate blood was announced over the radio stations Easy Rock and Yes Fm 911 Boracay.

Legend of the Seas Cruise Ship to visit Boracay

For the first time in history Boracay will be visited by a gigantic cruise ship based in the United States.

The ship will dock on the 27th of October and is expected to stay for 8 hours.

Legend of the Seas as the ship is called, carries about 2000 passengers and 1000 crews who are anticipated to disembark and visit the Island.

According to Marz Bernabe, Technical Staff of Caticlan Jetty Port, the said cruise ship is ten times bigger than the ship that docks in Caticlan on a Batangas route.

However Bernabe said they are not sure as to where in the island will legend of the seas will particularly dock, because they have to consider the weather during that time as it is the Habagat Season.

If in case the waves in the front beach would be rough the ship would probably dock at the port owned by a big resort in Balabag which is located at the back side of the island.

Meanwhile after Legend of the seas' visit to Boracay it will then proceed to Malaysia.

LGU of Malay Can Afford the P20M/100 E-Trikes for Boracay Island

Smiles registered on the faces of the Town Council of Malay when it was confirmed that the loan capacity of the Local Government Unit of Malay (LGU) can afford P20Million to finance the one hundred (100) E-Trike units for Boracay Island.

This was confirmed by the Finance Department of the LGU during the session yesterday.

Determining the loan capacity of the LGU of Malay was necessary for the Town Council to approve the resolution which gives the authority to the Mayor to enter into an agreement with the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) the partners of the E-Trike program.

With this development, the only remaining snag is setting the conditions to be presented to the beneficiary of the program. The setting of conditions is allegedly to ascertain that the recipient of the units will be able to fulfill its obligation to the LGU if ever.

Ordinance in Boracay, excuses no one

"Ignorance of the law excuses no one," that is why it must be complied.

This is how Malay Administrator Godofredo Sadiasa described the implementation of the ordinance being carried out in Boracay which everyone must comply, local or foreign alike.

Nonetheless Sadiasa said, if there’s any vehicle that entered Boracay without documents despite of the instruction of the local government of Malay for small motorboats to inspect the documents of motorcycles being transported, this is probably because of the amount being paid just to bring the vehicle across the island.

This explanation by the administrator followed as a response relating to the complaint of a certain foreign businessman whose vehicle has been apprehended in Boracay.

The said tourist businessman questioned about why they haven’t been inspected and enlightened about the existing ordinance before they actually transported the vehicle and was just apprehended when they were already in the island.

If recalled the local government had implemented a moratorium to stop the entry of vehicles of any kind which commenced last June 1st during which the ordinance of stopping the issuance of permit to transport has also been enforced.

E-Trike Program In Boracay Island Being Hurried by The Department of Energy

In light of the loan capacity of the Town Council of Malay, instead of bringing five hundred (500) units, the initial plan of the Council is commit to one hundred (100) E-Trike units to be brought to Boracay for the meantime.

100 units of the E-Trike would cost P20Million.

The E-Trike program is being hurried by the Department of Energy (DOE) and is hoped to be ready for bidding by the next month. With this, the Council has been given a deadline by July to decide and give authority to the Mayor to enter into an agreement regarding the program.

The Municipal Accountant of Malay, Budget Officer, Municipal Treasurer, Transportation Officer and Secretary of the Mayor was called by the Council to determine whether the Local Government Unit can finance the E-Trike which will later be passed to the cooperative of tricycles in Boracay.

However, based on the consultation, resistance was perceived from the recipient of the project. It was alleged that the cooperative does not seem to like the supplier of the E-Trike.

Boracay - even more popular

It is such a good implication for Boracay to be recognized as number one and to hold the title of '2012 World's Best Island.'

As a result, there will be a boost in the tourism industry as Boracay became even more popular and attracts more tourists, said Malay Administrator Godofredo Sadiasa.

Sadiasa said the Mayor's office is pleased of the result of this survey by a certain travel magazine as they were not really aspiring for the number one spot which used to be just number four.

He said they are delighted of the fact that it was the people who had decided to acknowledge Boracay as 2012 World's Best Island.

As a preparation and in order to maintain the title, what has been done and what has been started, according to the Malay administrator, should be continued.

This recognition for Boracay is said to be the result of collaboration of the local government and the stakeholders on the island.

50 Peso Fee for Diver Per Dive Site Proposed

A fee of fifty pesos from every diver in every dive site in Boracay is planned in the following days or months based on the proposed amendment on the Malay Municipal Ordinance #119 series of 1998 of the Town Council of Malay.

This was highly opposed by the Boracay Association of Scuba Diving Schools (BASS) through a Position Paper it sent to the Council on the 27^th of June.

There are 32 dive sites in the island. In its Position Paper, the BASS consisting of 37 members gave its reasons for its opposition. For BASS this is not fair and not justified.

In an interview on Friday, Cirilo Tirol, the President of BASS said all diving schools in Boracay disagree to the proposal.  Allegedly, the amount to be collected is not supposed to be since divers do not earn that much in every dive site.

Tirol also wondered why it is still necessary to collect fifty pesos from divers or tourists since BASS is also active in working with the LGU in taking care of the natural resource of Boracay.

The activities cited by Tirol were the off-shore clean up, discovering other dive sites, assisting in laying of buoys in the island, participation in Rescue and Relief Operations and other activities of the LGU from the time BASS was founded in 1996.

Also cited was the placement of the ship CAMIA and an airplane in the sea bed of Boracay as an additional attraction or diving site.

Tirol added that the collection of environmental fee from tourists should be sufficient if the proposed fifty peso charge is meant for the environment.

Task Force Moratorium in Boracay still on Level 2

Since the Task Force Moratorium for building construction in Boracay started in April, its implementation is still on level 2 if it will be based on a Stage 10 scale.

This means that there are loads of things that need to be done on the implementation and this would require a certain amount of time said Malay Municipal Planning Officer, Alma Belijerdo.

According to Belijerdo they have recently been receiving reports from the 3 barangays in Boracay regarding the monitoring of construction of establishments – both residential and commercial- in the island.

While they are still on the process of improving the knowledge of the task force members in the implementation of the said moratorium in, they are giving actions to any reports in order to control the construction of establishments.

Belijerdo admitted that the Task Force is already effective to newly or to be constructed establishments as they have been monitoring this and relaying it to the LGU who in return readily addressed the issue.

The Municipal Planning Officer however said that this is a challenge for the LGU on how to correct the things that has been even before the Task Force Moratorium was implemented.

Nonetheless if the LGU’s target for the moratorium would not be achieved, the Mayor himself has said that though it was intended to only extend up to June of next year, they may further extend it for them to attain the desired change for Boracay.