BORACAY - At least 16 hotels and tourism establishments here installed their own discharge pipes and flushed liquids beneath the island's white sand beachfront, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu said Saturday.

The illegal pipes were discovered after government excavated parts of the 4-kilometer beach famous for its powdery white sand. The island is currently closed to tourists for rehabilitation.

“Malalaking hotels 'yan (These are big hotels)," Cimatu told ABS-CBN News exactly a month after the island was shut down for a half-year rehabilitation.

"They will be subject to further investigation. We have to forward this (finding) to our central office in Manila, wherein the pollution adjudication board will provide the necessary punishment," he said.

Cimatu said the pipes contributed to high coliform levels in Boracay waters, one of the reasons why tourists and locals were temporarily banned from swimming in undesignated zones here.

Private sector 'defiance'

Some hotels have dumped their wastewater into Boracay's wetlands that naturally filter water from the island before it is released into the sea, Cimatu said.

One hotel discharged its water into wetland no. 3 in Sitio Bulabog, Barangay Balabag.

Residents in the area said the local government dismantled the pipe months ago but for some reason it was connected again.

“Inalis na nga ng local government, binalik ulit (It was already removed by the local government, but it's back). It’s an indication of defiance”, Cimatu said.

A drainage line near wetland no.7 in Barangay Manoc-Manoc, which was supposedly already cutoff, continued to emit murky water, the environment chief said.

The fecal coliform level from the pipe was at 24 million MPN (most probable number), data from the Environment Management Bureau showed.

This indicator measures the amount of human and animal waste present in a body of water. The standard coliform level is only at 400 MPN.

Boracay Tubi, one of the 2 water service providers on the island, was tasked to rehabilitate drainage lines in the area.

Last month, Boracay Tubi told ABS-CBN News that it was building a new 1-km water line to increase its water supply capacity but that it has yet to put up its own sewers.