‘One-entry, one-exit scheme unfair to boat operators’

By BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

Provincial Ordinance 05-032 mandating the one entry, one exit scheme in this island is favorable to big resort owners with boats but unfair to local boat operators, claimed Jesus Jingco, business manager of the Caticlan Boracay Transport Multi-Purpose Cooperative-Shuttle Van Group (CBTMPC-SVG).
He cited Section 5 of the provincial ordinance exempting resorts with boats from following the single entry-exit scheme.
“If the ordinance is for security purposes, it should apply to all,” Jingco said.
The ordinance emphasizes the need to lessen motorized pump boats in the beachfronts and give more security to visitors and residents, but it is also prejudicial to individual boat operators plying the Caticlan-Boracay route if the province permits resorts to load and unload its guests in designated stations in the White Beach, he averred.
Jingco also challenged the provincial government to look into the operations of the Welcome Center, a privately owned port operated by a pool of resort owners. He said it directly competes with the Caticlan Jetty Port, the designated jump-off point to Boracay.
Every visitor of resorts and hotels is paying P30 for entrance fee and P50 for the environmental fee similar to the fees imposed at Caticlan Jetty Port, Jingco said.
Aklan Vice Gov. Ronquillo Tolentino said the Welcome Center was established even before the Caticlan Jetty Port started operating. It was allowed to continue operating by the local government of Malay because of the investments of the owners in the resort-island, he explained.
“The Welcome Center loading area is exclusively for their clients and has been there for almost eight years now,” he said.
April 1 after a regional trial court junked the petition for declaratory relief of the local government of Malay.
Jingco said the continued operation of Welcome Center compromises the security of the island.