Six months after Boracay Island was closed for rehabilitation, the National Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday filed before the Ombudsman graft and malversation charges against several local officials in Malay, Aklan, for misusing funds from environmental fees collected from tourists from 2009 to 2017. That first step to official accountability is long overdue, given the neglect and ill-treatment that had been inflicted on the island. From 2012 to 2017, the NBI noted a discrepancy amounting to P30,678,920.73 in reports submitted by the town’s two treasury officials. For the same period, a bigger discrepancy of P84,860,570 was also noted in the report filed by the municipal treasurer, compared to the report by the town tourism office.

Hard lessons from Boracay mess. (2018, November 6). Philippine Daily Inquirer, p. A8.