BORACAY ISLAND - Excited voices, both from the old and the young, drown the classy pumpboats' roar as it approaches the beach. Necks crane. Cameras click. Video cameras roll. Laughter here and there as one jockey for the best pose. Apparently, nobody doesn't want to be left out of the frame.

This is not without reason, one finds out. The billboard that conspicuously stands on the white fine sand says it all: "Welcome to Boracay Island, the Number 1 Tropical Beach Resort in the World". No wonder, everyone seems to take pride in setting his or her foot on this place.

Along the pathways are people of various colors. They could well make-up for an assembly in a United Nations headquarters. In fact, one establishment flies flags of several nationalities either as a come-on, or a claim that, recently, tourists of this and that nationality lodged, wined and dined in that place. There were Europeans, Americans and Asians.

Hotels, restaurants, disco houses, diving gears, souvenir and an array of other service shops line in the 4-kilometer stretch fronting the sea. A communications company stands nearby, its personnel performing at par with most of Makati City's multinational offices. "Name it, you'll have it," proudly says a guide, as he throws a naughty smile and puts a slap on his companion's behind. This is Boracay, an island of less than a thousand hectares and some 6,000 residents, proudly described by one brochure as a 'Paradise'.

'Paradise' boosts economy

Boracay is literally the heart of Malay, once a sleepy town of 6,601 hectares which was founded in 1949. The town is an agricultural area complemented by the rich aquatic resource of the Sibuyan and Sulu seas. Thanks to the revenues that tourism pumped into the local coffers, says government accountant Expedito Sinel, Malay is now a fourth class municipality.

A town located at the outback of mainland Panay in the Visayas, the municipal hall of Malay, unlike others in the country that are similarly situated, boasts of several computers and cellphones; its employees wear flashy uniforms.

The Ramos Record: A vigorous tourism industry

Tourism under Corazon Aquino's administration didn't fare well. "Levels of annual tourist arrivals," said an industry primer, "fluctuated from slow growth to stagnant to short bursts of increases." This is due to the political instability and economic volatility then. The national average of arrivals from 1988 to 1992 was 1.07 million.

In contrast, Fidel V. Ramos' administration attracted some 1.15 million in its first year. This translated to tourism receipts amounting to US$1.67 billion. A steady growth marked the succeeding five years, and hit an estimated tourism receipt of US$2.7 billion by the end of 1996. This was derived from an approximate of 2.05 million foreigners. Domestic tourists, which numbered some 11.87 million, contributed another Php 40.14 billion.

This feat, noted the World Tourism Organization, is "the highest growth rate in annual tourist arrivals in the Asian region". The industry then had directly employed more that 1.1 million Filipinos and had accounted for almost 6 percent of the gross national product.

"The general improvement in political stability and economic growth ushered in by the Ramos administration," the primer stated, "created favorable conditions for a vigorous revival of the tourism industry."

Tourism secretary Mina Gabor also said that TV Quick, a London-based publication, voted Boracay as the "No.1 Tropical Beach in the world" in its December 21, 1996 issue.

Reports and Realities

Revenues and international citations, however, are not all that matter. They are mere outputs of an industry which is highly dependent on a particular place' unique attributes. In the case of Boracay, the island's name defined its own major attraction.

The island's sands are "white and cotton-like" (borac), while the water of its shorelines are "frothing and bubbly" (buracay). Dr. Edgardo Gomez, a marine biologist, said that the beach' unique character is the result of the "delicate balance" or the equal rate of the deposition and erosion of calcacerous materials that have died from natural causes in the course of time.

Calcacerous materials come mainly from corals, seashells and calcacerous algae. The natural forces which are contributory to this balance are wave actions as well as strong weather-like typhoons. Shrubs, trees and other vegetation which serve as windbreaks also contribute to the delicate balance.

The equilibrium reached and maintained for a considerable period of time explains for the white, fine sand. It is the residual product of terrestial and marine processes that transport the particles to the beach, according to Dr. Cortez.

"Naga-sidlak ang baras, sakit sa mata," (when the sand strikes the sun, they become too brilliant and painful for the eyes even under brief exposures) was how the Ati, the indigenous inhabitants of the island, describe the fine sand then. The sand now appears to be more creamy than white, tribe members attest. "More people, means more garbage which had contaminated the sand," the Ati reason out.

It is believed that Manuel "Manda" Elizalde, then president Ferdinand Marcos' chief of the Presidential Assistance for National Minorities, introduced Boracay to the "outside world". He had entertained jetsetter friends at the Puka Shell Beach in the early 1970s. Backpackers followed later in the same decade and in the early 1980s. by the end of 1990, more than 200,000 had already visited the island.

Revenues began to steadily increase for entrepreneurs and the local treasury. But the correlation between maintaining and preserving those which lured people to the area to the bulge of their pockets escaped them.

There may no longer be the "delicate balance" that Dr. Gomez spoke of when he conducted the study in 1989. He warned that "there are signs that this (erosion - deposition) balance might be upset". He took into account the large quantity of dead corals that he had discovered in several areas surrounding the island. He theorized that because of this, "there may be more deposition than what is normal". If the corals do not recover in the coming years, Dr. Cortez said, "the source of sediment may be reduced so that the depositional rate will become less normal." This would lead to more erosion and, in time, the white beaches will start to diminish in size, he explained.

Three possible causes behind the massive death of corals were identified: strong typhoons; the El Nino phenomenon; blast fishing and the use of poison to collect fish. "No doubt," the marine biologist found, "some blast fishing has contributed to the poor conditions of the reefs, as evidenced by the presence of some depressions with crushed corals in some places."

The Ati who are themselves divers agree with this finding, the alleged use of poison included. But they saw other reasons behind these unwanted practices. There was a greater demand for fish, exotic or not, with the massive flow of people into a small island like Boracay. Blast fishing and the use of poison were the easiest way to earn money in order to meet the rising costs of commodities, or to make a quick profit.

The indigenous trees and other forms of vegetation had also been taken over by haphazardly-built tourism infrastructures along the 4-kilometer stretch of formerly white fine sand. Alteration of landforms to suit a golf course and sprawling resort facilities had also been done at the upper portions of the island. There no longer were the natural wind breaks which contribute to the "delicate balance".

A development 'chaos'

Dr. Gomez' findings were among those used as basis for the formulation of the Boracay Island Master Development Plan (BIMDP) in 1989. There is 'chaos' by which the tourism industry was being pursued locally, the plan noted.

Boracay's development trends and emerging character, the BIMP stated, "tend to be directed and dictated by those infusing the funds for development" and that it "detracted from the inherent nature of the island". It points out how this happened: a foreigner marries into a local land-owning family to circumvent land and corporate ownership laws; and having the capital for development, the foreigner dictates what kind of development to be made.

The foreigner's market is naturally his compatriots. Reasoning that he knows more what would sell best with them, he dictates the kind of development direction that must be pursued. The Filipino partner ends up acting as front.

The master plan forwarded short and long term solutions which gained approval from the municipal and provincial governments. They were to balance commercial interests with the resident's welfare. The plan also included concerns over aesthetics and maintenance of the environment.

The 1990 BIMDP, however, failed to halt the 'chaos' that it described. The DOT puts the blame on the passage of the Local Government Code the following year. The code transferred much of the department's function to the local government. Many observers, however, claimed that it was the "lack of political will" to pursue the recommendations laid down by the master plan which led to the current environmental disarray in the island.

The problem was compounded by the drive to reap profits from the boom. Investors rushed constructions without mien of respect of Boracay's physical environment. Many were later discovered to have defective septic tanks and liquid waste disposal systems.

Among those with several business interests and land claims in the island are clan members of Jose Yap, the current mayor in Malay. Yap is the first islander to become the town's executive. He won in 1992, and is now serving his third and last term.

From 'chaos' to 'disaster'

Boracay Island is "terribly fragile", its ecosystems very vulnerable. This was how Bruno Haman, a hydrogeologist and former consultant of the United Nations Development Program, assessed the island after his visit in 1993. Boracay is in fact an extension of the coral reef. Beneath the thin layer of topsoil lies a coralline limestone.

"There is an enormous open area inside (a coralline limestone)" and, like a sponge, it "will suck any liquid that falls on it," Haman said.

In 1990, or three years before Haman's visit, a government study had already discovered that 40 out of the 44 samples it had taken from the island's water supply were infected with fecal coliforms. The other 4 which were considered safe were either purified or transported from the mainland.

Another study conducted three years later revealed some more: all water samples taken from wells contained fecal coliforms; and nearly half of the 207 households surveyed in the island does not have any toilet. The tenants either shared with their neighbor's facilities or resorted to the "wrap and throw" method. Leaching was feared to have also occurred since garbage were left untreated in open dumpsites.

Other subtle warnings came but were not discerned. For instance, the local health unit discovered in 1995 that waterborne diseases were among the 10 leading illnesses in the island. The following year, DENR regional executive director Raoul Gelleogue noted the algae which had flourished along the favorite 4-kilometer stretch of bathing area. It is an indication of high levels of nitrate normally associated with human sewage, he said, and groundwater has been contaminated by the seepage from inland to the beach.

In June 1997, barely half a year when it was voted as the top tropical beach resort worldwide, the DENR announced that Boracay Island has become a "disaster case". Coliform has invaded its waters. Tourists cancelled the island in their itineraries. Revenues dipped. The bells of cash registers began to fade and wail.

But not for long.

Four months of denials and counter-denials of coliform presence, accusations and counter-accusations of who was or were responsible ensued. The disputes merited a cabinet meeting in Malacanang Palace, inviting suspicions that a cover-up was in the making. In October of the same year, President Ramos dropped by the island to personally settle the issue. He took a brief dip, then declared: "The water's fine!"

The zealous tourism advocate actually did it. A month later, national papers reported that tourism in Boracay is "picking-up". Municipal revenue by the end of the "disaster" period even rose more than the P3 million annual average increase in the past years. From P15.421 in 1996, it grew to P20.454 by the end of 1997.

None of the government-promised water and sewage system in Boracay had been installed to date. This merits serious attention because since 1984, nearly a million tourists have stayed in the island. Each, according to a health personnel, had the capacity to deposit an average of 1 kilo of human waste during a minimum average stay of three days. Beneath Boracay's thin topsoil remains the coralline limestone which, a former UNDP consultant had described, acts like a "sponge" which "will suck any liquid that falls on it".

Now, where have all the coliforms from the possibly more than a million kilo of human wastes throughout those years gone?

Various threats

More than the complex environmental degradation that scientists explain, is another reality that mainland residents of Malay complain about: food security and declining morality.

Farmer Beterbo Ocson said the tourism boom drew most of the town's basic goods to Boracay. Where before fish could be bought for only P16 to P20 pesos a kilo, it now sells P60/kilo. Rice had risen to P40/ganta where it sells only about half of that price in the late 1980s.

Ocson expresses apprehension that rice may soon be scarce in the locality. That would happen when the Boracay Water Utilities Inc. completes the infrastructures which would siphon water from the Nabaoy river in the mainland. The water would fill the requirements of tourists and residents alike, and the sprawling golf-course which is now nearing completion in Boracay.

Nabaoy River irrigates more than a hundred hectares of riceland in three barangays of Malay. With irrigation water, farmers are able to raise crops twice a year. No less than 130 families are dependent on this same area for their daily needs.

Drawing river from the river to service the needs of the tourism industry, farmers said, would mean the loss of some P15 million worth of palay. This is sufficient to feed twenty thousand families in one month, they said.

Farmers organizations had formally lodged their opposition against the water system. Yet, construction and laying down of water pipes continue. The farmers are strongly bent in believing that the local government is willing to sacrifice almost anything just to earn more revenues from tourists.

Besides this, Ocson expresses disgust over new vices such as marijuana smoking being done in the open, both by tourists and some residents. "They've picked up a lot of vices from foreigners. Everyone knows that Filipinos are fond of imitating foreigners," he said with a wry smile.

"Even rapes among Ati children happened," Pastor Emeterio Alianza claims, "and alcoholism among tribe members is rampant." Not only are the Ati being driven out of their lands, but also being pushed closer to death with vices, he added.

Indigenous peoples as non-entities

As there is the apparent neglect over those which make Boracay attractive and as major revenue earner, there is also the disdain over the island's indigenous inhabitants-the Ati. For example, mayor Yap recognizes only one Ati family, that of Eduardo Supitran's, as a legitimate resident of Boracay. An actual count made last April indicated that there is a total of 25 families in the island. Twenty one of these are in Sitio Bulabog and is headed by 75-year old Supitran.

Traditionally, the Ati assemble themselves into a purong or band. Before tourism became a major industry, there were some 20 of these in the entire island. Except Supitran, the others have left for Romblon and in other parts of mainland Panay.

"Many white men came. We couldn't move freely. We're afraid that if we climb our coconuts, the fruits might fall on them," explain purung leaders Supitran and Tomas Gilleran.

Gilleran now lives in Sitio Corong of Brgy. Cogon in Malay with 17 Ati families. He harbors the same sentiments as Supitran's over the island: "We can't even go where we used to harvest our native rootcrops if ever the're still there," he said referring to the almost 150-hectare now occupied by giant developer Fil-Estate. The property is heavily guarded.

"We can hardly fish now. We can no longer grow our rice, or can even barely buy it. Prices have gone up. We earn so little that we can't afford them anymore. We rely on our younger siblings for support. But they, too, could hardly find regular jobs," lamented Gilleran.

Gloria Forteza is the only Ati with a permanent job. She had been working for the past four years with a Swiss who operates a wind surfing business. She receives P2,500 per month. She is not covered by insurance and other benefits such as Social Security System and Medicare.

Supitran added: "Very little (land) is left for us. We can only pray, and beg the landowner to please let us stay where we are now."

The only occasion that seems to give due remembrance of the tribe is the Ati-atihan festival in Aklan's capital of Kalibo. The week-long tourist entertainment, is in itself an irony. It is a commemoration of the festivities which followed the purchase of the vast valleys of Panay from the Ati King Marikudo by Datu Puti about 25,000 years ago. Datu Puti is the leader of the Maraynons who escaped from the oppression of the Sultan of Brunei.

In 1849, the Ati population was estimated to be 14,000. The latest provincial profile does not distinctly indicate the present Ati number. So also with the municipal demography. Whether these are conscious attempts or not to totally wipe them out even as mere statistics, no one knows.

"We are not totally forgotten, though" says Roberto dela Cruz, a member of the tribal council of the Malay Highlanders Foundation, Inc. "We are most remembered and attended to a few days before, and during election of public officials."

The Ati has an estimated voting population of 500 in Malay. It is a small number compared to a highly urbanized area. This number, however, can make or unmake a candidate in a town with only 3,658 households. During elections, the "vote or ibot" rule stays with the landless tribe. This means that the Ati must vote for his landlord's candidate. Refusal to do so would mean that the tribe must "ibot" (pull-out, demolish) his house and transfer somewhere else.

Complying with the landlord's and the candidate's wishes would mean additional perks: free food and some drinks before and after election day. Dela Cruz says that Ati huts normally could withstand even the strongest typhoon, but never that one named "Eleksiyon".

A history of neglect

Malay's history of legislation also shows the lack of genuine concern for the Ati. From 1950 to 1997, a total of 47 years, the town's legislative body passed only 6 resolutions in behalf of the tribe. The first was passed in July 1, 1950. It requested Manila's Social Welfare Administration "to give whatever aid and assistance or any remedial measures in order to mitigate the deplorable conditions of the Negritoes" in Malay. The second came 39 years later (July 7, 1989). It requested for funds needed to construct a farm-to-market road from the Ati settlement to the barangay (village) proper of Cogon. This materialized only after the tribe offered as counterpart their free labor.

In 1993, two more were passed. One gave the Ati "privileges" by way of exemption from paying the P50.00 fine for late registration; the other gave them another privilege - that of getting married "for a minimal fee". None of the resolutions contains recognition of the tribe as indigenous people whose rights, cultural integrity and welfare must also be respected and promoted. The latest resolution passed merely recognized the existence of tribal council among the Ati.

All the above considered, it would unlikely appear that the tribe would ever be carefully thought about as a stakeholder in Boracay. In 1990, the Boracay Island Master Development Plan was formulated to respond to the observed deterioration of the island's physical conditions. Out of the one-inch thick document which contained experts' studies and recommendations, there was only a one paragraph, three sentence attribute extended to the tribe:

"The Panay Island Tribe's Camp Site may be operated by the Atis, or aborigines of Panay Island, who may provide the necessary services to visitors including cooking which could be mostly barbecue type food or indigenous cuisine of the tribe. They could at the same time maintain and put into shape the entire camp site. This will provide this ethnic group an active role in the island's purposes and the opportunity to share in its bounties - and to offer visitors a very special experience."

A "camp site" was never established, tribe members say. Nor, as the Ati attest, were they given "the opportunity to share in its (the island's) bounties". But local officials, they add, did attempt to make one. It announced that the camp site is the same settlement at Sitio Bulabog of Brgy. Balabag, the area where the Ati pay a 25 peso/week rent for every hut constructed.

Last January 1998, another document was completed. It was called Environmental Management and Sustainable Development Strategy for Boracal Island.

In its foreword, the document stated:

"Working with the stakeholders of Boracay, the following Environmental Management and Sustainable Development Strategy for Boracay Island, and discussion on organizational and governance regimes, represents a major step towards effective pursuit of sustainability on Boracay."

The document is the result of a one-year activity funded largely by Canadian groups. There was not a single Ati in the annexes which listed those who participated.

Hopes derailed?

The Ati are pinning their hopes on the Indigenous People's Rights Act which was signed into law by then president Ramos in October 1997. The law created the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP). The act's Implementing Rules and Regulations were formulated middle of this year. This provided the mechanics for the assertion of land claims by any tribe.

However, a brewing conflict within the NCIP may derail whatever hopes indigenous peoples, the Ati included, have pinned on the IPRA. An immediate resolution of the discord among protagonists had been called for by a wide sector.

The Ati tribe has yet to accomplish the requirements for their ancestral land claims. They also wait for peace to settle down within NCIP. Meanwhile, tourism in Boracay thrives. Cash registers incessantly ring and make a killing. Literally, Boracay's environment and its indigenous peoples are placed on the line and on the brink of death. All for tourism - all for pleasure and profits.

To top it all, Department of Environment and Natural Resources secretary Antonio Cerilles publicly announced last week of July that he will support the titling of lands being claimed by resort owners in Boracay. That could be the Ati tribe's death sentence.