In 1988, the DENR, the Town of Talisay, and the Department of Tourism signed a joint memorandum banning the use of jetskis on Taal Lake. On July 27, 1998 the town of Talisay signed into law Ordinance_#_01-98 and adopting fines for the breaking of such law. Subsequently, the law was adopted in Tanauan.  

The fine for Jetski use is confiscation of the unit, and if the Jetski was launched from a resort, the resort will be fined, and if the action is repeated, the resort's permit to operate will be cancelled. 

 Taal Lake Yacht Club initiates action to License: 

In 1997 Peter Capotosto took several pictures,  showing several near accidents in front of TLYC.  A web page was made, and searches were made on the internet. 

The report was made and copies of the pictures were forwarded to the Mayor’s Office. This included recommendations as to what should be done about the problem. 

The report was comprised of an: 

è Economic analysis of the impact of jetskis in Talisay. 

è Political analysis of the impact of jetskis in Talisay. 

è An assessment of environmental damage, which was based primarily on the handbook, which is distributed by the American Jetski Manufacturers Association. This handbook explains the things that jetskiers should not do lest they cause environmental damage. These actions described were common actions of jetskiers on Taal Lake. 

è An assessment of physical danger to riders and swimmers. This data was gathered from jetski concessionaires in other areas. They indicated that around 40% of their gross income was eaten up by impact related accidents. 

è An analysis that jetskis should not be banned from Taal Lake, but rather, regulated, and licensed under restrictions for use in well defined areas, with heavy fines for violators. 

Local government endorses "regulation/licensing" 

The report was well received by the local government, who could see that regulations could provide a new source of income. They could also see that their legacy could be improved by adopting the regulations. 

It was decided that a public hearing should be held.  

In preparation for the public hearing however, the town government decided to hold an "initial public hearing" wherein it only invited parties would be allowed to attend. These parties were primarily the town council members, and members of the tourism resorts that would be affected by any legislation. 

In May 1998, an  initial hearing was held. The report with recommendations on how to regulate the activity was the main topic. 

The fiery meeting was disrupted several times, and the proponents of regulation were quite surprised by the tone of the meeting. 

Resort Owners reject "regulation" and insist on Total Ban 

It was the expectation of the town council, that the resort owners would oppose the regulations as being too restrictive on their clientele. Instead it was the opposite. 

Of almost two dozen resort operators, only one was for any kind of jetski activity on the lake. 

It turned out that The resort owners had been previously accepting jetski clientele because: 

The resort owners did not feel they had the option of restricting entry to the jetskiers because they were intimidated by the "10%". They felt that it would be an exercise in futility anyway, because since the resorts were typically very close to each other, banning the jetskis from their own resort, would merely cause the jetskis to move to the next door property, but the jetskis would still operate in the same body of water, which included the area in front of their resort. So the danger and noise would be the same, and their income would be even less. 

The public hearing provided an opportunity for them to all unite, because it turned out that they all had the same bad experience 

COUNCILORS REACT 

It turned out that the town council was not united either. During the fiesta, there had been a near accident which several people saw, including a town council member. Again safety was the primary issue. 

There were secondary issues too. Noise was one of them, environmental impact to fish spawning areas was another issue. 

During the meeting, several people get up at different times, asking that the report being given be stopped because it seemed practically unanimous that jetskis should be banned. 

The council chair pointed out that the report had a component in it, which prescribed how the activity would be regulated. 

Members of the floor insisted that regulation was useless since it would not be enforceable. They felt that barangay tanods and others who would be empowered to enforce the laws would not be able to stand up to the "10% untouchables" and that the whole system would break down quickly. 

The chair refered this to the presentor of the report who explained that under the proposal, there would be monetary commissions given to those who would enforce the rules. 

Again, the reaction of the floor was that it was unenforceable and the giving of commissions might only cause in fighting among the people who would claim credit for the reporting of incidents. 

The chair was able to convince the majority, that since the report had been prepared, it was but a courtesy to sit down and allow it to be read. 

To this they agreed. 

After the report was finished, vote was taken and only Green Lake Resort owned by Luis Malabanan, voted not to ban jetskis entirely. 

A few weeks later, On July 27 1998 resolution # 01-98 was adopted and passed at the Sangginiang Bayan  meeting. 
   
 Soon after that, other municipalities around the lake followed. Some passed the ordinance in its original form,  as  promulgated by the PCTT/DENR, which was even stronger in its wording, and was not limited to jetskis, but also included other motorized pleasure craft. Tanauan, for example, passed the law in the stricter format.

This is significant because it shows that the tone of feeling among the local populace is to be more strict, rather than more lenient, if attempts are made to ammend the ordinance.