BORACAY ISLAND — While it may hurt the island’s tourism in the meantime, closing it to visitors for a few months of restoration is a wise move for the government, should authorities follow through on the decision come July 2018.

The island’s poor sewerage system, and the fact that most establishments here are non-compliant, doesn’t just put Boracay in a bad light — it’s a disaster waiting to happen. We don’t want Boracay to become a paradise lost.

President Rodrigo Duterte called the island a “cesspool” and threatened to close it if it wasn’t cleaned up within six months — alarming tourists and local stakeholders alike, since most residents here rely on tourism as their main livelihood.

Doing nothing, however, would hurt the environment in the long run. As environmental advocates have pointed out repeatedly, the current unplanned development here threatens not just today’s locals and tourists, but generations to come.

We’re no fan of the president, but raising the Boracay mess at a business gathering in Davao weeks ago is a message we welcome, especially in a country where tourism remains a top industry. This is one area where his iron fist is warranted.

As earlier announced, the tourism department plans to close Boracay during Habagat (non-peak) season, from July to October. It’ll be a tough call, but a necessary one if Boracay is to keep shining as one of the country’s top destinations — it’s held that spot, or run a close second to Palawan, for years now.

Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo said the environment department will demolish establishments that encroached on the easement zone — a mandatory salvage zone of 25 meters, plus five meters, measured between buildings and the shore from the high-tide mark.

A few weeks earlier, Tourism Assistant Secretary Frederick Alegre said some 850 establishments had been served show-cause orders by an inter-agency council for easement violations and failing to connect to the sewerage treatment plant. Only 18 percent of Boracay’s roughly 500 accredited hotels and resorts, he said, were connected to the sewer system. That’s a pretty dismal number.

The DOT has also temporarily halted processing new and expiring accreditation certificates for Boracay establishments that aren’t complying with environmental laws.

“To prevent continued harmful disposal of wastewater into the seas surrounding the island’s three villages (Balabag, Manoc-Manoc and Yapac), the DOT is imposing a six-month moratorium on accreditation during which resorts and other establishments must acquire and maintain individual water treatment facility, as well as connect to the centralized sewerage system,” the Department said in a statement.

Closing the island to tourists would also give the government room to fix the drainage system, since some areas flood during the rainy season.

These reports have already scared off some tourists, resulting in cancelled bookings — and that’s okay. It is better to lose a little now for a greater good than put the environment and the whole island and its people at risk in the years to come.