Boracay resort owner demolishes view deck built on rock formation

A Boracay resort owner ordered the demolition of his establishment's viewing deck after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) warned him that the structure was built on a rock formation.

Cris Aquino, owner of the West Cove Boracay, appealed to other resort owners on the island to follow his lead and comply with environmental laws.

"Pang-anim na giba na ito. Sana pare-pareho lang, at yung iba ay makisama na rin dahil para sa... Boracay ito," Aquino said on GMA 7 news program "24 Oras Weekend" on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu confirmed that the West Cove Boracay's Forest Landuse Agreement for Tourism Purposes (FLAgT) had been canceled, despite Aquino's claims that he had been compliant.

Aquino had earlier created a video in which he gargled seawater to prove that the waters in Boracay were clean and safe to swim in.

The DENR had cracked-down on commercial establishments in Boracay after President Rodrigo Duterte's accused businesses of turning the world-famous island into a cesspool.

Aquino conceded that the island's sanitation and sewerage systems needed to be fixed after these had been misused by illegally-constructed establishments.

Last Thursday, DILG officer-in-charge Eduardo Año had floated the idea of declaring a state of calamity on Boracay, which could expedite rehabilitation efforts.

Meanwhile, a sewage pipe that had been placed on the beach would be dug up on Monday as authorities attempt to discover who had placed it there. — Margaret Claire Layug/DVM, GMA News