Tourists visit Panglao Island amid Abu Sayyaf clashes in 2017. Annie Perez, ABS-CBN News
Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu on Tuesday said the agency is eyeing to clean up Panglao Island in Bohol next after cracking down on tourist island Boracay.
"It's a wake-up call really and I think on their own, they are also doing their job properly, the LGUs [local government units]," Cimatu told reporters during the 2nd Philippine Environment Summit in Cebu.
William Cuñado, director of the Environment Management Bureau (EMB) in Central Visayas, said they conducted a survey and now have a list of establishments with no proper water waste management system.
"If they can confine their [waste] water system, then they can continue operations but if not, then they have to stop," he said.
Cuñado said cease and desist orders will be issued to establishments that will not comply, and these will eventually be recommended for closure.
He said the EMB has a month to review Panglao Island to make sure all environmental laws are followed.