Too Much Construction Workers!!!

Resort boom exacting toll on Boracay Island 

First posted 05:15am (Mla time) April 10, 2006 By Hazel P. VillaInquirer 
Editor's Note: Published on page A17 of the Apr. 10, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer 
ILOILO CITY -- Thousands of construction workers employed by big resorts are taxing the carrying capacity of the famed Boracay Island that can pose problems in terms of services, according to an official of the Department of Tourism in Western Visayas (DoT-6).
Edwin Trompeta, DoT-6 director, said Boracay's carrying capacity is affected by people who have no business staying there.
hese include carpenters and construction workers from the cities of Cebu and Iloilo who work for a time and opt to permanently stay on the island, he added.

"Construction workers staying in Boracay and not going home is an additional problem on the island in terms of services, housing, lighting, and use of facilities as well as peace and order," he said.

Demographers define carrying capacity as the maximum "load" that people and their needs can safely impose on the environment.

Trompeta expressed concern on the more than 2,000 construction workers of Shangri-La Hotel, which is now constructing a P2.2-billion project as well as the international resort company Discovery Shore that will begin construction at the main beach area near Station 1.

"One-fourth of these construction workers who do not go home would be an additional problem on the island," said Trompeta.

Contrary to common belief, he said the tourists are not the ones who tax the island's carrying capacity because they only come on a seasonal basis.

He cited the case of Fairways and Bluewaters Resort that began construction in the late 1990s and employed about 3,000 workers at any given time, most of whom decided to stay for good and make a living in Boracay.

Trompeta said there was no system of controlling construction workers in Boracay who did not even have identification cards from the companies they were working with.

The lack of a Tourism Development Authority (TDA) hampers the regulation of development on the island because the activities of these groups are not coordinated, he added.

Trompeta had proposed the creation of the TDA in 2001, which would "manage, operate, control, plan, and implement the regulations on the island just like the Subic Bay Development Authority."

"Until we get that authority in there, I have doubts about the sustainability of the island," said Trompeta who said he pitched the idea to business groups and Aklan's leaders, but was ignored.