Resort owner chastises Dumaluan for boat law

PUSHED to the edge again, Panglao Mayor Doloriech Dumaluan is on a damn-if-you-do and damn-if-you-don't situation. The two options for him? To permanently ban dive and whale watching boats at the Alona stretch or to play deaf until every beach tourism activity in Alona shifts to another stretch of Panglao. Either way, the mayor is making enemies. While the second option would be ideal for his family-owned and managed Dumaluan Beach , resort owners, including Alona Palm Beach resort's Marcel Brunner and the Alona Beach Community (ABC) Foundation would, without doubt, be after his throat.

EYESORE

Tourists and owners of beach resorts along the 1.8-kilometer Alona stretch of while fine sandy beaches have been complaining about boats moored along the beach fronts. Aside from forming an irritating eyesore blocking the view of the world-famous Alona sea and beach scapes, the boats deny tourists of safe and unobstructed. Many see the boats as potential causes of injury. Anchor lines stretching across the beach could trip guests. Sharp anchors dropped in shallow waters or on the sand could injure, again posing danger to life of tourists and local residents wanting to enjoy the sea or sand here. A foreign review for Alona beach also cited the danger the dive boats pose for swimmers and snorkel enthusiasts. “One of these diveboats almost ran over me while [I was] snorkeling” it said. Aside from potential injuries to life, the diveboats, most of them with water cooled diesel engines flush out oil or diesel, further posing dangers of pollution.

BROKEN PROMISES

In a letter addressed to Mayor Dumaluan, Alona Palm Beach Operations Manager Marcel Brunner reminded the local chief executive and Panglao tourism industry player of his promise of proper action against illegal boat parking at the beach. After a meeting with the mayor at Alona Palm Beach in November 2005, Brunner has reportedly sent three follow up letters to the mayor. The letters were all about the promised action on the illegal mooring. Brunner cited a speech mayor Dumaluan gave for the ABC Foundation where he accordingly vowed to implement the diveboat parking ban after the Sinulog in January. Since then, the resort owners have been awaiting for the mayor's positive action, which is yet to come, it if ever would.

TURF WAR?

Following the recent development and Mayor Dumaluan's apparent neglect to implement the provisions of the law, Brunner asks if it indeed was true that there is an apparent attempt to destroy Alona's reputation to reconstruct tourism activities in other areas. Several quarters see the mayor's inaction as good to his family owned resort which sits to benefit from the possible influx of tourists. Alona stretch, named after sexy star Alona Alegre also earns the distinction as Bohol 's Boracay and is reputedly the stretch with the biggest concentration of foreign tourists. Meanwhile, Dumaluan sits on a 1.2 kilometer of similarly fine while sand Panglao beaches are famous of, sans the irritating eyesore of diveboats. If it is allowed to go unacted, it could really be turf war and politics at its best, or worst. With this, Brunner cited Municipal Ordinance no. 6, series of 1998 which prohibits all boat owners to drop anchor and moor on the beach. “Is the municipality of Panglao not committed to uphold international tourism standards to be negligent in its duty to implement approved laws?” frustrated and disappointed Brunner asks.

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