Last Sunday saw a particularly strong Tropical Storm hit Boracay. Yet again we suffered long brownouts and a communications drop out. I was in my home just off the main road in Angol last Christmas when typhoon Ursula battered us all, so Sunday’s wind and rain wasn’t as scary for me as last year. But my poor little puppy never liked it this time around. One of my windows doesn’t close properly (thanks to a failed burglary attempt a few months ago) and the howling winds that hit around 2:00 a.m. kept us all awake. Yet again poor old Boracay seems to be suffering. The road outside my new apartment flooded yet again. Despite the fact that all those problems should have been solved during our six month enforced enclosure. Many of the pavements and roads all look nice and new with their red colored bricks and trees. But a lot of the old problems are still with us. Up at Station X outside of Boracay Tropics a huge black rubber drain pipe about 20 meters long has been sitting there for around one year or more, possibly longer. It’s become a safe shelter for a few rats and strays, but doesn't serve much purpose for anything else, save make the flooding a bit worse as it appears to have sunk a few inches which causes a large puddle to form as soon as we get a bit of rain. The rainy season hasn’t fully started yet. While I’m in a complaining mood, when’s the beachfront properties around Willie’s Rock going to be tidied up? - much of still resembles a Marawi landscape...
The beach still holds some old concrete, metal posts and there’s a lot of old ugly building foundations exposed. The dilapidated buildings have become a real eyesore along this beautiful part of White Beach.
I don’t know who is responsible for clearing it up; whether it be the property owner, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) or ordered them knocked down, or the local government units (LGU), but somebody needs to be held accountable and made to fix the ugly (and maybe dangerous) problem.
Finally, to end on a good note. After being an absolute nightmare to navigate ones way along, the roadworks on Bulabog Road from Regency-24/7 on the main road down to the beach are at last looking like something that resembles a road. A concrete surface is beginning to replace mud pools and deep excavation pits.
“A little progress is better than none.” A wise man once said.
Let’s hope that the Department of Tourism (DOT), Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) and LGU can also make a little progress and start allowing more establishments to open up with less restrictions so we can let visitors start to enjoy the Island again.
And as for the Island’s resident community - we’ll plod along in hope, as usual...