CNN Philippines Presents: Rebuilding Paradise

I have been visiting Boracay for the last 30 years today I'm reminded of the many reasons why this side of the island keeps drawing me back the call me see the white powdery beach the turquoise blue water the sunset all the fun and the excitement [Music] for years paratha was known all over the world as a top tourist destination often landing on the list of the most beautiful beaches [Music] after dark [Music] the island offers endless nightlife hotspots but environmental problems started hounding Boracay blame it on the improper sewage system overdevelopment an illegal construction it is a cesspool says president Rodrigo Duterte himself so tell you but this is the tragedy namaste ambassador Rana was just twenty metres away from the beach at a distance you say the cotton balls of Baraka was a white Sun but you're going to the water it's smelly smell what does he lack don't wanna Bosnia sober up in a few want there is destroying the environment of the Republic of the Philippines and creating a disaster coming there will be time that no more foreigner will go there because he will have we nearly go back to the plane to where he belongs so I told him a tomatoes in general it was a sign dia give you six months for decades repeated warnings went unheeded I told them kayo been a gentleman a pocket and an Isla anon Gina wahlen you been avoiding you the number is this how you will treat a beautiful place like purified this was 15 years ago of course nobody listened why because of this piece of paper this piece of paper in all currencies whether it be yen-dollar euro and everything is such that is the size of these people is that when you cover your eyes with it you will see nothing else but what happens with della time basura girl game it can and to big bucket opposed Maga meeting and two-bit in at Apple nothing net do do me and Tahoe say toilet pocket opossum do me and enterin toilet illallah Bastion Dominion yeah human Appa guy in Sandy Lyle Abhishek but this time around no more ifs and buts the government closed Boracay to all tourists in April it's the first warning that Boracay is closed to tourists the beachfront is virtually empty unities are carrying out strict inspection at the Happy Planet jacket port on day one of Barajas closure their own Madonna brachii natella mr. lamarka divinium Tirupur coming from billet aluminum vodka Aegean a poco de trabajo so my own koala read in sepia Picador el trabajo I must salute him for his political will this is long overdue this issue will be done year 2000 pero la hermana officials from do transport a diode to resume the hot lap we will not mention names including the president they were all concerned about how many tourists were coming in bringing in the piece of paper but it was only that fellow will be saya no Melek estando penis Aryan booting up he had the guts to close it down congratulations so everybody was shocked Sabina Nibbana it could have been done better it could have been done slowly no when you want to stop smoking stop right away the man in charge of the islands rehabilitation is determined to make a difference in these states of the rehabilitation represent rate that and the road consumption this new road like widened the road and also the completion of the West which which thought there this is really the one that cost this habilitation accessible a new day has done and it does feel to me like it's the old Boracay again but you don't have to go too far to realize it isn't business as usual here it hasn't been since April 26 the government's ordered to shut down the island two tourists came as a surprise to many residents and business owners a big shock I ran across a circuit pero Kinnaman possa kapa haka booty and I'm gonna die yo circuit Adam in a video I know my name a Cecchetti same prey don't know qualia and termina negara by top or Dino's you know gonna mean movie Kananga I made 11 para la familia mo familia Musa I mean Lucas on ilana para la cocina una barranca you mean it's a family name in beginner para yo but she too long for me NASA on a mission one of my wife 14 Universal waka for boggle no para a Nokia column for you man upon my name Lonnegan not nagging many say there wasn't enough time to prepare and with so many questions left and answered others were angry and disappointed ma se ma long camino in come along I know well uh coming and I mean la luna hi own Milad picnic aman Aquilani port in contrast to what looks like a serene resort island Boracay is under construction heavy construction that is deep inside neighborhoods the noise of demolition and rebuilding reverberates workers are cleaning fixing tearing down and building this is an island in need of help after what experts say were years of abuse neglect and decay Boracay was declared as a forest land therefore when something is not owned by anybody everybody who owns it and depend upon cinema Raman para cinema lajas don't do saline ha ha ha walkman whatever piece of property there is it's not a cesspool nobody knows what the cesspool is it is a toilet bowl which they have not even bothered to flush many residents tell me they learned their lesson the hard way Hanako Macarena Napolitano percerin a new rock I rocked up on an animal a plastic gen sedan para podi mama where are you mama I know the Danny not too big a saying I know content salsa de aragón I know peridot pasa I know Sagar Calzada Yamaha do make a laminating dysplasia and not among a new delegate [Music] [Applause] Babbitt Latika worked as an all-around maintenance man in one of the resorts in Boracay trabajo a little other about our son citizenship maintenance it oh a lot of leanness now highway and I smoked essaouira asthma hollandaise ACMA to be that him until I saw dotty he earns 323 pesos a day for about seven thousand eight hundred pesos a month a lot less than the fifteen thousand pesos he used to make but he's learned to accept it Mubarak number are excited to me Brahma Baba my oars other residents share the same sentiment it'll knock Akash where were coming I know Wallace Wallace Nagisa me beat Asano some are Beach [Music] man Philemon reminds me of the old saying you never really know what you got until it's gone zabelinha novel a big lenin visita young Haribo aluminum cigarette Osipovich young barista ask opponent Sarah McIndoe Alan my belly Dennis entre me and eaten a meeting on tour Easter Sunday in the pock Saarinen warren como hacen unlucky telenovela monkey lehman lives on the northern tip of Boracay on puka shell beach it's supposed to be the more quiet and less crowded section this sand is unique not quite as fine as the rest of Marathi it's filled with crushed pieces of puka shells thus the name [Music] over time Baraka is hidden gem started to look like the rest of the island crowded food and drink stalls began popping up this is the area in puka beach where we normally see the stalls let's serve food and drinks over here but as soon as Barack I closed down last April 26 this is one of the first areas that clearing operations were conducted and all the stalls here gone man Philemon misses the infectious vibe on puka beach and more importantly he tells me he misses his income soon he hopes to receive the government's financial assistance of 15,000 pesos my Putin about me don't they made this w do not support Hungama tapas zero and six months close you're so young kogasa Nana Nana na na hi ro ro the padme referring this cart a bogus identical honest as a beanie began anew beer no build an America telethon initiative in Oaxaca cometa and from our own open distress Villa Bacchus America is a sub-brand emizner capilla sera wanna just maybe Darren know about my billion most awesome isn't in there now it's a time of reflection there were a lot of lessons learned he says kalana neato it was animal collage he was an animal hold on cowboy I'm gonna have Contras Tsakanikas and upper he an alien in le nuttin dog was among the lucky ones who got her financial grant from the government Vinny Jacob mmm nom I noticed wd9 dig 15,000 per Indian Amanda hat she spent part of the 15,000 pesos she received the set of the small store selling puka shell trinkets which are quite popular with foreign tourists alina says she's getting ready for when visitors return in October but her two children lost their jobs simply will appear a man a boy no I know I'm gonna go out and say dr. Balian across a dually this WD she says the money is not enough and the job is limited to only one month during the six-month closure of Boracay many of these residents have no savings to tap into so it's a lot of belt-tightening until we opening day and fingers crossed nothing gets in the way [Music] secretary Cimabue is appealing for patience this is just the first step he says to the ongoing massive rehabilitation is once Paradise Island beyond the six months seaman who explains the task force has a longer mapping the agency will will work as a interagency task force for another 1 and 1/2 years more the life of the executive order is two years and six months long ito rehabilitation so we still have one year and a half then I hope that there will be already a legislation to find a substitute or the one that will take over our effort for Baraka the storm shutters are up on almost every beachfront resort on Boracay it's typical this time of the year but much of what's going on here is anything but typical Boracay has never seen anything like this before and I learned the void of its usual vibrant energy some resort owners say they had hoped for more time better planning from the government I felt telega that an island needed to be closed but first we were not prepared financially for the closure secondly sana we wish that only the violators would be the violators would be closed know left without a choice some businesses are taking advantage of this quiet time to do some improvements on their establishments you know happy people were already complaining that Sabrina Sabrina unregulated and growth na island on hindsight I feel not the island needed to rest for six months but an importantly pinkie is that the closure will not be in vain [Music] this is Cockburn port normally jam-packed with boats ferrying tourists coming in through Caticlan or kalibo Airport in 2017 Boracay set a record high of 2.1 million visitors some say this is an alarming number of people on the island year after year visitor arrivals have been growing revenues steadily increasing [Music] Bharathi generated 56 billion pesos in tourism receipts last year there are almost 2400 business establishments on Boracay from hotels to bars and restaurants there's now even a shopping mall which opened early last year the government suspended the environmental clearance of all the establishments after more than 2,000 of them were found violating environmental laws and lacking permits most were illegally connected to the islands drainage system intended for rainwater not waste water by doing this raw waste goes directly into the scene so my septic tank young Caracara and Mukul in a septic tank model athenian dig leak but my craft and Poppleton said once a dagger so it actually fertilizes the LJ KR the last time he went critically on algae hibiku height by Aaron Piniella who in the Capuchin Torito at all casa umoja who Noonan an algae that means the fertilize Machado in scientific terms it's called algal bloom since the April shutdown experts and government workers have been inspecting the pipeline's we are assigned to us to look for buried pipes possible are hidden like the disposed water wastewater towards the sea the second objective is Jo hazard because we have also the instrument that can look into what is beneath the ground sinkhole scales water level there are pipes now excavate Nepal Nepal a la cocina la manana there are my ground penetrating radar Mayra naman po may not want an example that might a spot called for town the government's goal is to get all these pipes connected to the underground sewer line so wastewater can go through proper treatment another problem that desperately needs addressing the illegal structures on easement areas as well as in wetlands and forest lands as an initial step the National Bureau of Investigation filed complaints of graft and violations of the forestry code and local government code against some businessmen and local officials the dismantling of illegal structures is ongoing local officials tell us many residents and business owners themselves voluntarily did the work [Music] the roads on Boracay are a top priority to the Public Works and highways department has a mandate to complete the widening of Barajas main road which spans seven kilometres and it's circumferential road that's five kilometres long the DPW H says Barajas main road will be a two-lane road with sidewalks that are 2 metres wide on each side the agency is also working on the relocation of electric posts to ensure that there will be no obstruction to the road widening project meanwhile you see here this newly constructed road to bulabog beach it now serves as a logistics corridor for other rehabilitation work on the island Quezada hung under a parapet alligator not a post upon opinion clearing and demolition don'ts a 12 metre right-of-way no that has been set and established and starting at him time and civil works actually component the project it will cover initially you first four point one two kilometers that will be from that Bank port passing through rotunda and ultimately again to terminate to moon it was just before Balaban Plaza don't sail easily property that will cover four point one two kilometers so the long contacts fragmented Ito in the amount of 490 million pesos when we see something like this sir Baca in the Puma Nevada mokuba's Cocteau I'm a boo-boo Samba rock on October 26 yeah go started already be pipe laying and you gonna commit napping drainage pipes for this project is quite new for us and also these questions the black ones the black ones those are the high-density polyethylene pipes now you have up only six meters mobilize for my install I'm not challenged Lampoon at a Connecticut a nap in sedan nabob aha and you know in mypos step and I'm gonna distribution lines and poles nap and repeatedly took the initiative a fun Valley where many Oakland electric cooperative Parham a relocate or may transfer night on manga distribution posts and lines Lunas a 12 meter right-of-way and we have this minimum a series of meetings that I would they'll cost NASA by owner in ela Nam ie my là-bas Mary not even my eyes to my spaghetti wires neither sir also we're expecting non-pom again denied or to wait or that was Marin the intelligent pedestrian Lane a Marin Patang modest a two-lane road within BPW standards and Marimo Thomas Mallo on the sidewalk on both sides so that's two meters on both sides not Marin push shank pavers and Marin Patong ground cover you it happen input not in the tone apparent planting nothing along the road is and a how and will have also street lighting so casa by pooyan do starting gathering narrowed improvement learn who you in sir we see that we can see part of it nap time october 26 the sound of splashing waves hitting the shores echoes across the four kilometers threat of chronic ice white Beach another day has come to an end another day closer to the reopening of this Paradise Island [Music]

Channel: CNN Philippines

Views: 496,846

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Id: JkJscdbRS5g

Length: 24min 34sec (1474 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 15 2018