Senator Cynthia Villar defended the hotel that her family owns in Boracay and said that they made sure that it follows the environmental laws.
Senator Cynthia Villar admitted on Wednesday that her family has an investment in a hotel in Boracay, however she pointed out that they strictly followed the rules concerning the protection of the environment.
The wife of former Senator Manny Villar also said that she visited the popular Philippine island last week for the Senate investigation regarding the degrading state of the tourist attraction.
According to an article published in ABS-CBN News, the lawmaker would’ve gone there if the administrator of their hotel in the island, Boracay Sands did not assure her that they are not transgressing any environmental law.
It can be recalled that President Rodrigo Duterte had already took notice of the waste in Boracay which they called “cesspool”.
In line with this, the environment department already admitted that there are several establishments which are directly dumping their waste in the waters of the beautiful island.
Due to the present state of Boracay, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año and Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo recommended the shutting down of the entire island for 60 days to address the problem in pollution.
Senator Cynthia Villar also iterated that if the said recommendation will push through, it will not affect the state of their business because her family still has investments in 139 places.
According to her, it will not cause any negative effect in the entirety of their business.
“I’m not managing our business. I don’t think it will affect our business, kahit isara nila ang Boracay. I have done so much for the environment and I’m still doing it,” the lawmaker said, based on the article.
The said hotel owned by the family of Villar has 50 rooms.
With their businesses, she was considered as the richest politician in 2015, based on her declared net worth of P3.5 billion.
She has been in real estate business for decades along with her husband Manny Villar.