The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has placed under close watch the environmental law compliances of businesses in Coron town.
Particularly being monitored are compliances in building construction, occupancy permits, and Department of Tourism (DOT) accreditation.
DILG regional director Wilhelm Suyko said Thursday during the law enforcement summit organized by the Calamianes Resiliency Network (CRN) that the intention of the monitoring is to prevent tourism operation from being closed like what happened in Boracay.
“Ongoing siya, actually by next week, magsisimula na ‘yong mga preparatory meetings niyan. Meron na kaming soft inspection over a month ago with the DENR (Departmet of Environment and Natural Resources), particularly kasama ang Bureau of Fire Protection, PNP (Philippine National Police), at DOT,” he said.
He said the BFP will check the occupancy permits of the establishments while the DOT will check if they have already been accredited.
He said if the establishments are not complying with the standards set forth by the DOT, their recommendations will be presented based on their “convergence findings”.
Suyco said although their monitoring has started, they still cannot give the exact number of establishments with violations in Coron.
“Yong actual fact-finding wala pa kasi sabay-sabay ang ginagawa namin ngayon. Nagse-set up ng strategies on how to do that. Our intention here now is not to close the business establishments, we don’t like to repeat what happened in Boracay,” he said.
Aside from the establishments, DILG will also monitor the compliance of the residents living along the beach areas of Coron.
“As much as possible, we’ll keep the business establishments operating, provided they comply with the required standards of the law,” he said.
He said the DILG is currently monitoring five beach tourism sites in the country including Coron and El Nido in northern Palawan.
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