DILG sues Aklan execs over Boracay mess

Volunteers pick up garbage at Boracay beach. AFP

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) yesterday filed criminal complaints against Aklan Governor Florencio Miraflores and 16 local officials of Malay town for their alleged negligence in managing Boracay Island.

DILG Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III haled the said local government officials before the Office of the Ombudsman.

Charged along Governor Miraflores were Malay, Aklan Mayor Ciceron Cawaling, Vice Mayor Abram Sualog, and members of the municipal council.

Other respondents named in the case were provincial environmental officers and barangay officials based in Boracay.

Densing said Miraflores violated provisions of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, while committing grave misconduct, gross neglect of duty, conduct unbecoming of public officials and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.

The Malay officials were to be blamed for issuing business permits in favor of Boracay establishments despite the lack of required documents such as compliance with the Fire Safety and Building Code, Densing said in his complaint.

“The charges that we have filed against them were just the first tranche as the Commission on Audit has yet to look into the environmental fees collected in Boracay for the last five years,” said Densing.

“Just last week, we have already gotten response from the Commission on Audit that they will be conducting special audit on the environmental fees collected in the last five years.

That should be Part 2 — officials who are no longer incumbents,” Densing said on TV.

Branding the holiday island and its famous white-sand beach a “cesspool,” President Duterte ordered that visitors be kept away from Boracay for six months starting April.

The closure of Boracay is to rehabilitate the island, tear down illegal structures and ensure that establishments fix their sewage systems in compliance with environmental laws.

During the clean-up, environmental officials discovered that some 21 illegal sewer pipes had been built, discharging water along the beachfront.

Structures breaching the 30-meter easement zone were demolished.

The DILG official sought for the preventive suspension of Miraflores and his co-respondents.