Boracay folk-DENR spat driving away international hotel operators

International hotel chains that intend to put up world-class resorts on Boracay island in Aklan for the upscale market may have to shelve their plans for now as local residents are locked in a bitter fight with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) over property rights.

Small resort owners in the island are upset over the DENR’s plan to declare portions of Boracay as alienable and disposable lands and open them for public auction.

"It will be difficult for Boracay now to draw in the ‘big boys’ who were seriously contemplating putting up big international hotel chains because of the brewing controversy over land titles. It doesn’t make sense for them to go through with their plans because their properties could be taken from them by the government," said Ed Fuentes, a resident and owner of the Sun Village resort.

Fuentes claimed that following the deferment of the construction of the P500-million Discovery Shores by international property development and management group HSAI-Raintree International, other hotel chains are expected to follow.

These include the Shangri-La Hotel chain, which held its groundbreaking ceremonies last month for the construction of a 300-room hotel villa that would cost P3.3 billion.

Other major hotel chains that previously expressed interest in developing an area in Boracay as an upscale tourist destination are the Hilton Hotel, Four Seasons Hotel, Ritz Carlton Hotel and the Lopez-led Rockwell Group, which is reportedly partnering with a foreign company.

"These companies were looking for properties to acquire and some have actually started the groundwork for getting land titles but with all the uncertainty going on they might as well just strike Boracay off their list," said Fuentes.

Earlier, HSAI-Raintree International, which manages the Discovery Suites in Ortigas and the Discovery Country Suites in Tagaytay City, said it was forced to re-evaluate its plans on the construction of its Discovery Shores project in Boracay because of the DENR plan.

"At this stage, only fools would put in more money in a potentially explosive situation, let alone expose themselves to financial disaster," said Annabel Wisniewski, president and CEO of HSAI-Raintree.

If implemented, DENR’s plan will open up about 56 percent of the total land area in Boracay for public bidding while 25 percent will be declared as forest land to be used for plantations and fishponds. Another 11.49 percent will be categorized as protected areas. These will cover parks, buffer zones, and a conservation area for the endangered bat species on the island.

Currently, 98 percent of the lands in Boracay are untitled and most property holdings are substantiated only by tax declarations. These make the operators of hotels and other establishments in the island vulnerable because tax declarations, while recognized as evidence of ownership by government, could be subjected to direct and collateral attack by other parties claiming ownership of the properties.

Environment Secretary Michael Defensor said the plan to reclassify certain lands in Boracay as "alienable and disposable," will enable the government to implement the Boracay Island Master Development Plan. He added that the titling of the lands would encourage further development and bring in more investments to Boracay.

Fuentes, however, said that the DENR’s scheme is unfair to residents and small resort owners like him who have been dutifully paying their taxes and contributing to the tourism-driven economy in Boracay.

"Resort owners here who have been running their establishments for 30 years are facing the grim prospects of being kicked out of their lands in which they have invested so much," said Fuentes.

There are more than 200 small resorts and restaurants operating on the white beach area of Boracay.

He chided the DENR for misleading the public into thinking that titling the lands will allow it to implement the master development plan that will allow growth and development in the island.

The DENR, however, said that titles would be given to establishments only if they comply with the requirements, including that of connecting their septic tanks to the sewerage treatment plant of the Philippine Tourism Authority.

"Many of the establishments are not connected with the government’s sewerage treatment plant because it is not yet complete. Only the first phase has been completed when all three phases should have been finished first," Fuentes explained.

Owners of resorts and other establishments will be holding a rally on Saturday to protest the DENR’s move while a 10,000-signature campaign opposing the plan is ongoing.