By Roy Cejar
Aklan Governor Carlito Marquez made true his warning in a letter dated August 21, 2007 addressed to Malay Mayor Ceciron Cawaling that pending the perfection of the Memorandum of Agreement, he will not allow the municipal personnel inside the Caticlan Jetty Port building effective September 1, 2007 to go on collecting the environmental fee.
Since September 1 to present the personnel of the Municipality of Malay were barred to collect the environment fee inside the port terminal building. However, the collection of the environmental fee continues as of press time in a structure just right at the building entrance with assigned personnel to do the tasks.
The Municipal Government of Malay pursuant to an ordinance imposes P50 environmental fee to each person visiting the island of Boracay for more than a year now. It is further stipulated in the ordinance that the Province of Aklan shall have a share of 15 percent of the fee imposed, provided that a Memorandum of Agreement is executed between the municipality and the province.
Further, it was stated that while the Province of Aklan will be the one to identify and implement the project to be funded out of the provincial share, it must be an environment project and must be implemented in Malay. For the year ending 2006, Malay has collected P16, 367, 642 environmental fee. The supposed share of the Province of Aklan is estimated to have reached P3.7-M as of press time.
In an interview with Cawaling he emphasized that nobody could stop the collection of environmental fee because no one is above the law. He also stressed that this is not good for the premier international tourist destination. He looks forward that a (Memorandum of Agreement) MOA will be soon perfected. The provincial government has nothing to worry because the amount has been treated and deposited as trust fund.
It was learned that Marquez cited in his letter to Cawaling the column in another local newspaper and in fact attached a photo copy of it, to justify his act of pressuring Cawaling to release the share of the province out of the environmental fee.
The Caticlan Jetty Port is owned by the Province of Aklan. The amount of P20 as terminal fee is also being collected for the use of the port to Boracay and another P20 is imposed at Cagban Port in Boracay for passengers leaving Boracay. The Municipality of Malay is entitled to five percent share from the terminal fee and two percent of which goes to the barangay where the port is located.
1 comment:
Now, here come the sweteks - legalized pickpocketeers! One swetek against another ...
It's nice conception for the province to have that oneway-in/oneway-out port in the island and have it disguised as "for security reasons". But terrorists are no dummies. They can hit and get away at any point of the island as their study suggest. Terrorist doesn't attack without planning...
The real reason is money - one has to pay the said "port". If one can exit anywhere, no money can be made.
But Malay's environmental whatever is yet to be figured out, planned and seen, - even though the money for it has been collected.
I suggest to towns leading to Boracay to sit up ordinances too, to tax all those vehicles (Ro-Ro- destined-buses to Manila, and haulers of building materials for Boracay included) that passes their towns. All what these towns got are potholes on their newly blacktopped road, and the danger the top-speeding vehicles present. These vehicles are plying back and forth as if they are always on emergency, running on a 5-lane freeway, and Boracay is going away!
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