Penalty for late Business Permit renewals starts Monday

March 1st was the deadline for Business Permit renewals in Malay and Boracay.

This is after the second extension that the Municipal Council of Malay has granted.

For this reason, come Monday, 4^th of March 2013, a penalty will be imposed to those who haven’t had their dues assessed by the Licensing Office yet.

This is according to Licensing Officer Jean Salsona who noted that they only have furnished about 1,800 new business permits compared to last year’s 4000.

This simply shows that a large number remains on the process of completing their requirements.

Based on the Licensing Officer’s knowledge, many of them have already been assessed, yet still have to submit some documents that the local government has required of them.

Salsona added that of the 4,000 business permits they have released in 2012, 287 were for the resorts in Boracay.

The remaining three thousand plus is composed of public transportations such as tricycles, motorboats and the likes, as well as the other establishments in the island like restaurants, variety stores, spas and others.

REQUEST fOR a PLACE fOR ASSISTANCE CENTER aT tHE BEACH FRONT, NO RESULT YET

It will be better if there is a Coastguard Assistance Center at Boracay’s boat stations 1 and 3 according to PO2 Condrito Alvarez of the Coast Guard Boracay detachment.

In an interview with Alvarez on Tuesday, February 26, he explained the benefits of having assistance centers at the mentioned boat stations.

He said that aside from monitoring the activities at the beachfront, the implementation of manifesto for island hopping activities will be safeguarded.

Alvarez added that when assistance is needed, tourists will have someone to approach, especially if there is a maritime incident.

During the interview, it was learned that the plan to put Coastguard assistance centers at Stations 1 and 3 was presented by their former Coast Guard Commander, Lt. Cmdr. Terence Alsosa in a Boracay Action Group meeting on January of this year.

Nevertheless, the plan was not yet feasible as of press time since the plan that had been presented had had no result.

However, Alvarez added that the Coast Guard’s new Commander, Lt. Cmdr. Jimmy Oliver Vingno, will find a way to set up an assistance center at the two stations in the Month of March.

Re-shuffling of Police Officers in Aklan, isn’t done yet

The re-shuffling of Police Personnel in Aklan is not done yet.

This is what Aklan Police Provincial Director P/S Supt. Pedrito Escarilla clarified following a reshuffling of Police Chiefs conducted last January in pursuant for the May 2013 elections.

This is aside from those which haven’t been transferred yet, such as the Chiefs of Malay Police Station and of the Boracay Tourist Assistance Center, to which successive replacement has been an issue.

In his statement on Monday, Escarilla is unsure if the current BTAC Chief, in the person of S/Insp. Joeffer Cabural, will remain on his post.

This is because the reshuffling of officers is continuous, may it be election time or not, added the Provincial Director.

He however assured that they will not be removing any chief from their posts without valid reason.

FIRE PREVENTION MONTH tO BE OBSERVED iN BORACAY

The Fire Prevention Month will kick-start with a motorcade from the Boracay Island Special Fire Protection Unit (BISFPU) on the 1^st day of March this year.

The motorcade, which will start at 6:30 in the morning, will pass by the Cagban Jetty Port, the villages of Balabag, and Yapak, and will eventually go back to Manoc-Manoc Village.

Certificates will then be given away to agencies and organizations who participated in the celebration.

Presidential Proclamation No. 115-A signed in 1967 by the former president Ferdinand Marcos, declared the month of March as the Fire Prevention Month in the Philippines.

The month of March is the start of summer in the country and the month wherein fire often occurs.

BLTMPC’s petition for the cancellation of “Color Coding” of tricycles in Boracay, OK for the DOT

The Department of Tourism Okays the Boracay Land Transport Multi-purpose Cooperative or BLTMPC’s petition.

That is the cancellation of the color coding scheme of the tricycles in Boracay.

In fact, according to DOT Officer-in-Charge, Tim Ticar they are supportive of this idea as they are also considering the tricycle drivers to be one of the front liners in tourism.

But he bluntly said that, still there should be a keen study if there is really a shortage of tricycle units in the island.

This is because Ticar believes the number of units is enough. However some of them are on “stand-by” on tricycle lines waiting for tourists to hire them or have them for a rental.

This system, he said, greatly affects the local passengers as they appear to be left for granted.

Nonetheless, he added that if the cancellation of color coding will bring a good result, the DOT will support this.

In line with this Ticar advised the BLTMPC to implement what must be, in order for them to deliver the right services especially to the tourists.