Trouble in Panglao Erring Establishments Politics Add To Garbage Woes

Trouble in Panglao: Erring establishments, politics add to garbage woes 21/02/2019, 7)41 AM
TROUBLE IN PANGLAO
Erring
establishments
politics add
to garbage
woes Tourism facilit
Published 8:58 PM, October 31, Conclusion
2018
contributing to Pan
Updated 10:10 PM, November struggle with trash
02, 2018 Part 1: Panglao: Riding the tourism cash cow
mayors 8gh
Part 2: Garbage in paradise: The price of Panglao's rise as
tourist destination
Part 3: New system for old problems: Panglao's struggle with
BY LEILANI CHAVEZ | OCTOBER 31, 2018
solid waste
Part 4: In Panglao: Tourism funds waste management and
conservation
PANGLAO, Bohol – Once Nenita* opens her sari-sari store

along Panglao Circumferential Road, she makes sure that
buyers throw their trash in the proper bins.
She followed the rules: 4 bins properly labeled with
https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/in-depth/215668-erring-establishments-politics-add-panglao-garbage-problems Page 1 of 10
biodegradable, non-biodegradable, residuals, and special

wastes. She took it even further by indicating the types of trash
that can be thrown in those bins.
“If I don’t segregate, I will be 8ned by the municipality,” she said

while handing change to a local who bought a stick of
cigarette. “I don’t want to be 8ned, it’s a waste of earnings.”
Since the Panglao municipality implemented a “No

Segregation, No Collection” policy, local establishments were
required to provide 4 trash bins that cater to different
categories of garbage.
The violation charges, when accumulated, are a big deal for

smaller store owners like Nenita who sometimes have to pay
P25,000 in one sitting to get a mayor’s permit. But this isn’t the
case for other establishments in Panglao.
Data from the municipal solid waste management o`ce

showed that 774 violations on segregation were committed by
211 establishments in the municipality.
Topping the list are restaurants and bars, followed by smaller

hotels and resorts. Souvenir stores, general merchandise
stores, and a spa are among the top 20 offenders in the
province.
Also, most of the top violators do business in Barangay

Tawala.
In 2017 alone, 652 violations were documented based on door-

to-door inspections done by Panglao’s eco-warriors in Tawala.
These were committed by 141 establishments, mostly resorts
and restaurants.
The 8gure is interesting: there were 606 registered businesses

in Tawala in 2017. This means that one to two establishments
committed a segregation violation per day in Bohol’s new
tourism center.
Those who failed to segregate – households and non-

households alike – had to deal with two added problems: 8nes
and uncollected garbage.
This brought about another problem in the municipality: illegal

dumping of garbage.
“Sometimes, when we do inspections, our eco-warriors notice

that the trash volume is low. We 8nd out that it’s because they
(businesses) hire habal-habal (motorcycle) drivers to dispose
of their trash,” Manuel Fudolin of the solid waste management
said.
On a normal day, Fudolin boards his motorcycle in hopes of

catching locals in the act of burning waste, mostly residuals, in
violation of the Clean Air Act of 1999.
He’s been successful so far. A total of 18 violators, mostly

resorts and individuals, have been caught red-handed dumping
non-biodegradable waste in vacant lots in Panglao.
“Now violators are smarter,” said Fudolin. “They burn the

receipts or tatter them to shreds to avoid being caught.”
Problems worsened by private business
Although the solid waste management o`ce lacks police

power to catch violators, it carries the sanctions over to the
annual renewal of permits. For an establishment to secure a
permit, it has to settle 8nes in mismanaged solid waste and
issues on sanitation.
Some, however, delay getting permits.
Data on registered establishments from the Business and

Licensing Permits O`ce (BPLO) are available but incomplete.
This means that some establishments in Panglao are doing
business without the necessary paperwork.
At the tourism o`ce, Leonidas Senica admitted that this

practice is common. On their end, they track actual
establishments on the ground and indicate which ones are
operating without the required registration.
Case in point: Transient dive centers. The tourism o`ce noted

that there are 13 transient dive centers operating in Panglao
that are not registered with the municipality.
Resorts in Panglao
Number of resorts based on 336

records
With environmental compliance 84

certi8cate
With valid discharge permit 6
With expired discharge permit 4
Without discharge permit 323
Non-operational 3
After Boracay’s closure, EMB evaluated resorts in Panglao and found that
majority lack environmental permits. Source: Environment Management
Bureau Region 7, as of April 26, 2018
Similarly, a majority of resorts and hotels in Panglao continue

to welcome tourists even without an environmental
compliance certi8cate (ECC) and adequate discharge permits.
(READ: Panglao island next in DENR ‘crackdown on
environmental violators’)
Other Stories
New system for old problems: Panglao's struggle with
solid waste
Old and new problems pose challenges to Panglao’s waste
management system
Garbage in paradise: The price of Panglao’s rise as

tourist destination
Panglao, often promoted as an alternative to world-famous
Boracay, has a long history of neglecting solid waste
Two cemeteries praised for 'Undas' solid waste

management
Although there were improvements in cemetery garbage disposal
this year, littering was still rampant, an environmentalist group says
On the tourism front, some businesses are also averse to

divulging exact visitor arrivals, which in turn, limits the
municipality’s programs targeted at protecting tourists.
Only 55% of the total number of hotels, resorts, and inns on the
island report actual 8gures to the tourism o`ce. They have
cases of “outliers” or resorts that do not divulge data and fake
occupancy 8gures.
“If a resort has more than 300 rooms and they only divulge
5,000 guests in a year, you really won’t believe them, right? So
we don’t include the numbers,” he said. “If 8gures appear that
they’re not credible, we don’t include that in the 8nal data,” he
added.
The lack of complete data hinders the local o`ce’s efforts in

overseeing, not just solid waste, but also the business
operations in the area. It also delays requests for national
funding on roads, social services equipment, and construction
of buildings for tourists.
It’s also unclear whether Panglao’s businesses, especially the

bigger ones, have extensive internal programs for solid waste
management.
We reached out to the Bohol Association of Hotels, Resorts,

and Restaurants (BAHRR), the umbrella organization of
tourism establishments in the province, but they did not reply
to our questions.
Fragile bureaucracy
Panglao’s unstable mayorship also diverted attention from the

waste problem.
Early this year, Mayor Leonila Montero was dismissed by the

Ombudsman for violating the one-year appointment ban. The
Ombudsman found her guilty of “simple misconduct" and was
meted the penalty of 3 months suspension without pay. (READ:
Panglao Mayor suspended, faces graft charge for hiring losing
candidates)
Vice Mayor Pedro Fuertes assumed o`ce immediately.
When 2018 opened, Montero was unable to return to o`ce.

Fuertes refused to vacate the mayor’s seat despite a directive
from the Department of the Interior and Local Government
(DILG), arguing that it lacked legal support.
But the tug-of-war continued. (READ: Spreading ‘humor’ is

economic sabotage – Bohol mayor’s memo)
Last June, the Court of Appeals released a decision that

reinstated Montero as mayor of Panglao. This was supported
by a DILG Region VII Memorandum dated October 27, 2018,
which pushed for the “immediate implementation of the CA
decision against Mayor Leonila P. Montero of Panglao, Bohol.”
How does Panglao’s politicking affect tourism and waste

management programs?
A lot, said Brother Miloy Bulilan of the Holy Name University

(HNU). Bulilan specializes in tourism studies and has a
doctorate in International Development. HNU is the biggest
private school in Tagbilaran City.
“The LGU's (local government unit's) role is big in managing

tourism and its attached social problems. LGUs should release
policies to process, regulate, and control activities of
independent tour operators,” he said.
“Policies impact building permits, training, and managing

waste. Otherwise, the system will be in disarray and people will
just do what bene8ts them,” Bulilan added.
The political 8esta has also sidetracked other issues in

strengthening the local waste management system and its
environment efforts. During the one-year political tug-of-war,
Panglao delayed appointing a Municipal Environment and
Natural Resources O`cer (MENRO) to coordinate the efforts
of the local o`ces with provincial interventions.
Mayor Fuertes refused to be interviewed for this series.
Tripod of solutions but weak political will
Solving problems on waste is a tripod, said Dr. Federico

Ticong, sociology department chair from HNU. Three factors
need to be actively involved: the local government unit, national
laws, and civil society organizations (CSO).
All these elements were present, yet shaky, in Panglao.
There is a national law on managing solid waste and it has

been adapted, yet the system is overwhelmed by the volume of
trash generated by tourism establishments. Panglao lacks
strong CSO movements.
Ticong said there are numerous organizations and

associations in Bohol that push for environment conservation
but there is no powerful local lobbyist on solid waste
management. Some 8erce environmentalists of the past, said
Ticong, have now been hired by big hotels and resorts.
“There is also the concern of how educated our local leaders

are in sustainable tourism development, which includes waste
management, and of course, how sincere they are,” Ticong
said. “The municipality should enforce its powers against
violators. It’s not enough that violators are being 8ned.”
LGUs also decry the lack of resources in their failure to adapt

solid waste management measures. But Engineer Eligio
Ildefonso of the National Solid Waste Management
Commission (NSWMC) of the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources (DENR) does not buy that.
“We don’t believe them because they (LGUs) receive IRA

(Internal Revenue Allotments). They should allot resources for
waste management,” Ildefonso said. “It’s not true that they
don’t have money. Magsara na ang bangko pero ang LGU may
pera,” he added. (LGUs will still have money even when banks
close down.)
According to Ildefonso, the solution to the garbage problem

hounding Panglao’s beaches boils down to one phrase:
political will.
“The bottomline is political will, it’s just that waste

management is not a priority for them,” Ildefonso said. “They
(local o`cials) don’t want to touch on proper and strict waste
management because they think it will lessen the votes.”
Additionally, local o`cials also fear the ire of investors.
Boy* who works at the municipality pointed out that Panglao

values investors and this priority enabled businesses to
circumvent rules like operating without adequate licenses and
permits.
“I think it always boils down to the local chief executive. If they

lack political will…Regardless of how persistent we are, if they
lack political will, then there’s nothing we can do,” Boy said.
“In my experience… there’s some political will but it’s half-

baked… depends on their pleasure. They are afraid that if they
are strict, the investors will stop investing here.” –
Rappler.com
*Names were withheld upon request.
This story is part of a series on tourism and waste

management in the Philippines, and was supported by
Internews’ Earth Journalism Network (EJN).
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Trouble in Panglao: Erring establishments, politics add to garbage woes 21/02/2019, 7)41 AM

PANGLAO, Bohol – Once Nenita* opens her sari-sari store

She followed the rules: 4 bins properly labeled with

biodegradable, non-biodegradable, residuals, and special

“If I don’t segregate, I will be 8ned by the municipality,” she said

Since the Panglao municipality implemented a “No

The violation charges, when accumulated, are a big deal for

Data from the municipal solid waste management o`ce

Topping the list are restaurants and bars, followed by smaller

Also, most of the top violators do business in Barangay

In 2017 alone, 652 violations were documented based on door-

The 8gure is interesting: there were 606 registered businesses

Those who failed to segregate – households and non-

This brought about another problem in the municipality: illegal

“Sometimes, when we do inspections, our eco-warriors notice

On a normal day, Fudolin boards his motorcycle in hopes of

He’s been successful so far. A total of 18 violators, mostly

“Now violators are smarter,” said Fudolin. “They burn the

Problems worsened by private business

Although the solid waste management o`ce lacks police

Some, however, delay getting permits.

Data on registered establishments from the Business and

At the tourism o`ce, Leonidas Senica admitted that this

Case in point: Transient dive centers. The tourism o`ce noted

Number of resorts based on 336

With environmental compliance 84

With valid discharge permit 6

With expired discharge permit 4

Without discharge permit 323

Similarly, a majority of resorts and hotels in Panglao continue

New system for old problems: Panglao's struggle with

Garbage in paradise: The price of Panglao’s rise as

Two cemeteries praised for 'Undas' solid waste

On the tourism front, some businesses are also averse to

The lack of complete data hinders the local o`ce’s efforts in

It’s also unclear whether Panglao’s businesses, especially the

We reached out to the Bohol Association of Hotels, Resorts,

Panglao’s unstable mayorship also diverted attention from the

Early this year, Mayor Leonila Montero was dismissed by the

Vice Mayor Pedro Fuertes assumed o`ce immediately.

When 2018 opened, Montero was unable to return to o`ce.

But the tug-of-war continued. (READ: Spreading ‘humor’ is

Last June, the Court of Appeals released a decision that

How does Panglao’s politicking affect tourism and waste

A lot, said Brother Miloy Bulilan of the Holy Name University

private school in Tagbilaran City.

“The LGU's (local government unit's) role is big in managing

“Policies impact building permits, training, and managing

The political 8esta has also sidetracked other issues in

Mayor Fuertes refused to be interviewed for this series.

Tripod of solutions but weak political will

Solving problems on waste is a tripod, said Dr. Federico

All these elements were present, yet shaky, in Panglao.

There is a national law on managing solid waste and it has

Ticong said there are numerous organizations and

“There is also the concern of how educated our local leaders

LGUs also decry the lack of resources in their failure to adapt

“We don’t believe them because they (LGUs) receive IRA

According to Ildefonso, the solution to the garbage problem

“The bottomline is political will, it’s just that waste

Additionally, local o`cials also fear the ire of investors.

Boy* who works at the municipality pointed out that Panglao

“I think it always boils down to the local chief executive. If they