Just as tourism and local government officials were preparing to reopen to visitors the beaches of El Nido in Palawan province, hailed as the 2020 “best island in the world,” photos and videos surfaced on social media on Thursday showing a portion of its beach that has turned black after sewage water was allegedly pumped into the sea. Video footage and photos posted on social media by a “worried citizen,” who was unnamed, showed “vile brownish black liquid” running onto a popular tourist beach from a drainage system. Municipal administrator Raffy Cabate, however, denied the claim of beach discoloration and insisted that the photos and videos were merely “reposted from last year.”

Miranda, R. (2020, October 23). Water contamination in El Nido beach?. Philippine Daily Inquirer, p. A6.