ONE of our country’s most celebrated singer, Celeste Legaspi, recently aired her concerned via her social media post, on how they fell ill while on vacation in El Nido, Palawan due to contaminated water.
In her FB post last 6, 2025, Legaspi described how she and her companions experienced painful ordeal when they got “painfully sick.
“Turns out it’s dangerous to stay there. The water is horribly contaminated! Brushing your teeth mindlessly can give you horrid painful health problems! And food preparation can be easily compromised. With tourists landing in hospitals!!” Legaspi stated.
She cautioned both locals and visitors regarding the matter and called on both the local and national government to take urgent action.
“Why [do] the local government and the national government not do something about this???!!! Why do they just allow this situation to continue?” she exclaimed.
Legaspi did not identify where they stayed during their trip.
She ended her post by saying, “The hardworking and honest Filipino citizens of El Nido deserve clean water.”
Several social media users also took into social media, after reading her post, their similar experiences and frustrations, regarding the long-standing water and sanitation issue they experience while staying in El Nido.
Some described incidents of stomach illness, diarrhea, and vomiting, allegedly caused by contaminated tap water or unclean food handling practices.
They also called for accountability, urging the local government to mind the problem to prevent the further deterioration of El Nido’s image as a premier tourist destination.
A report detailing the Environment Management Bureau’s (EMB) findings about water quality in the last quarter of 2024 was released by Palawan News on April 23, 2025.
According to that report water tests collected from El Nido’s beaches, rivers, and coastal seas showed elevated levels of fecal coliform, a sign of water contamination.
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