Stakeholders should prepare for the April 26 closure of Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan.

“I asked them (stakeholders and local government) not to resist anymore,” said Assistant Secretary Epimaco Densing III of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

Densing said the joint recommendation by secretaries Roy Cimatu of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Wanda Teo of the Department of Tourism (DOT), and Eduardo Año of the DILG will be decided by President Rodrigo Duterte.

“They have one month to prepare,” Densing said while attending the Regional Development Council (RDC) meeting in Iloilo City Friday.

The recommendation, which came out late Thursday afternoon, indicated a closure period of six months starting on April 26.

Densing said, if all stakeholders fully cooperate, the closure will be shorter.

RDC-6 has yet to reveal its stance on the impending plan by the Duterte administration./WDJ