DENR set to conduct Boracay cadastral survey

MANILA, Philippines – A cadastral survey will be conducted in Boracay in preparation for the titling of land on the resort island.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has presented stakeholders three options:

• Land titling through sales patent, where stakeholders would buy the property or land from the government;

• Judicial confirmation, where the court would simply acknowledge the stakeholders’ tax declaration; and

• Issuance of Forest Land Use Agreement for Tourism Purposes for properties in declared forest lands.

During a dialogue with stakeholders, Environment Undersecretary for Administration, Finance and Legal Mary Anne Lucille Sering said they are now ready to enforce last year’s Supreme Court decision declaring that Boracay belongs to the state.

Dr. Orlando Sacay of the Boracay Foundation Inc. said DENR representatives and the stakeholders met recently to find a “common solution” to the issue of land titling to legitimize the claim of resort owners and other individuals and groups in Boracay.

“The development of Boracay will be back on track due to these actions by the DENR,” he told reporters.

“Hopefully, this would help alleviate the fears and put to end wild speculations that the government will take over Boracay, which have driven away billions of pesos worth of investments, and also hopefully help us amid the economic crisis, considering the contribution of a robust tourism to our economy,” he added.

Sacay said the SC ruled that the tax declarations held by claimants could not be eligible for judicial confirmation.

“Nevertheless, (these options) give a lot of comfort that we will have a piece of paper to legitimize our possession and development of the (beachfront) area (where majority of the resorts are located),” he said.

In upholding Proclamation No. 1064 on Oct. 8, 2008, the SC said Boracay belongs to the state, and that the current residents cannot claim ownership of parcels of land based on years of occupation.

Proclamation No. 1064, issued by President Arroyo on May 22, 2006, classifies 60.94 percent of the 1,032-hectare area of Boracay (628.96 hectares) as alienable and disposable, but retains the remaining area under state ownership as forest land.

However, the SC also said Congress may enact a law to entitle private claimants to acquire titles to the lots they occupy or to exempt them from certain legal requirements.

Private claimants cannot apply for judicial confirmation of imperfect title under Commonwealth Act (CA) 141, the Public Land Act and neither do they have vested rights over the lands they occupy, the SC added.

The SC said under CA No. 141, the two requisites for judicial confirmation of imperfect or incomplete title are:

• Open, continuous, exclusive, and notorious possession and occupation of the subject land by himself or through his predecessors-in-interest under a bona fide claim of ownership since time immemorial; and

• Classification of the land as alienable and disposable land of the public domain.

However, the SC also said that it does not mean private claimants can be evicted from the residential, commercial and other areas they now occupy.

The SC decision reversed and set aside the decision of the Court of Appeals affirming the ruling of the Kalibo, Aklan regional trial court granting the petition for declaratory relief filed by Mayor Jose Yap, Libertad Talapian, Mila Sumndad, and Aniceto Yap, for the survey of Boracay for titling purposes.

The SC said prior to Proclamation 1064, the island of Boracay was an unclassified land of the public domain, which is considered public forest under Presidential Decree 705.

Proclamation 1801 issued by President Ferdinand Marcos in 1978, or the Philippine Tourism Authority Circular 3-82, did not convert the whole of Boracay into an agricultural land, the SC added.