Boracay stakeholders say dialogue with DENR a failure

BORACAY, Aklan — The dialogue between the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and landholders here practically bogged down due to contradictory positions taken by both parties over the issuance of land titles in this island resort.

The dialogue held here Saturday was the third initiated by the DENR seeking to ventilate issues concerning the government’s plan to reclassify some land areas on Boracay.

The DENR has insisted on the issuance of land titles but the idea is being opposed by resort owners on the island.

DENR Secretary Michael Defensor was supposed to lead the dialogue but was not able to attend due to the recent political developments in Manila.

On the other hand, the stakeholders led by Orlando Sacay, resort owner and president of the Boracay Foundation Inc. (BFI), called on the government to recognize their efforts in developing the island into a premier tourist destination.

He said the government should give them vested rights over the properties they have developed and recognize them through judicial confirmation.

But the DENR team, led by special action officer Zoilo Andin and Undersecretary for Lands Manuel Gerochi, insisted the land titling must proceed without any condition as required by law.

"We, in the government, when we deal, we are bounded by laws, we cannot go beyond the law," Andin said.

"All of these we are doing for the good of the island in the long term not in the short term," he said.

Andin said the DENR is willing to compromise in asking the help of the establishment owners in Boracay to come up with a proposal.

Gerochi however maintained towards the end of the dialogue that the DENR will be pushing through with the reclassification plan.

He said the government will declare some 1,032 hectares or 628.96 square meters in the island as alienable and disposable.

Gerochi said this will open the opportunity for the stakeholders to legally own the properties through the distribution of land titles.

"We will proceed with our actions. So, for those who wanted to oppose go on and file your cases in court while for those who are in favor, let’s proceed with the government’s plan," Gerochi said.

Following the declaration of some portions of the island as "alienable and disposable," the DENR explained that parties may apply for titling under the procedures set by Republic Act 730.

RA 730 requires no bidding but the assessment value of the land that would impose a direct sale of the lot for residential purposes.

This is different from commercial purposes which under Commonwealth Act 141, require public auction and bidding that many resort and hotel owners vehemently oppose.

Stephen Arceño, the counsel for the Boracay stakeholders, claimed the DENR has been pushing for the implementation of Presidential Decree 705 of 1975, otherwise known as the Forestry Code.

Arceño argued that the law should be retroactively applied to the case of titling in the island.

Arceño said the island had been occupied since the Spanish colonization era which preceded the Public Land Law initially enacted for land distribution and titling in the Philippines.

He said the government should recognize the "vested rights" of the stakeholders given the time it took to turn the island into a tropical paradise this side of the globe.

"The real issue here is who really owns the land? The DENR would want to have a hand in the disposition of the land, perhaps to profit because Boracay has been a premier tourist destination of all time," Arceño said.

Arceño pointed out that Boracay was declared as a tourism zone and marine reserve by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1978.

"Our proof that there had been settlers here since time immemorial was the cemetery where the epitaphs indicate that the people lived here since the 1800s," he added.

Arceño claimed the DENR is simply harassing the stakeholders "because they won’t recognize our tax declaration as proof of ownership and allow for judicial confirmation."

"All we want is very simple. The property is not forest. Let the DENR approve the conduct of surveys and proceed with titling through judicial confirmation as every proclamation is always subject to prior vested rights," he said.

He said the tax declaration should be considered conclusive proof of ownership of a property by the stakeholder.

Resort owners also pointed out the DENR’s plan virtually discouraged more investors.

A German who owns a resort here claimed others are thinking of pulling out their investments in the island and leave the country.

"With the ways things are going right now, my wife and I decided to just sell our property here and return to Germany," he said.

"Besides, most of the European government, including Germany, has advised their citizens here to instead withdraw their investments because business here is no good and not getting any better."

The German claimed he was being cheated by the government as a stakeholder in the island.

"Because when I came here and established my businesses I already paid for the lot and shelled out more for construction," he said.

"And then now, it means I have to pay again or buy back something I already paid years ago? I do not understand that. I have lost my trust in the government here," he added.

Sacay, for his part, said any future dialogues with the DENR would be futile.

Unless the government changes its stand on the issue, they would instead resort to legal battles in court, he said.

Sacay pointed out the stakeholders have already won their case twice in court — in the regional trial court of Aklan and the Court of Appeals — and that the DENR should respect the court decisions.

"As far as we are concerned, there was no gain in the dialogue, as they just showed their hardened position. If they will not change their position on the matter, to me a dialogue is futile," Sacay said.

Sacay stressed the stakeholders would rather depend on the protection of the courts.

"We are the ones who made Boracay what it is today," he said.