Boracay residents, resort owners: HB 1109 unconstitutional
BORACAY ISLAND, AKLAN—Braving persistent rains, around 700 residents, resort owners, land occupants, including foreigners, joined a protest rally here on Friday to oppose a bill that categorizes more than half of the island as public domain and open for disposition.
The protesters, many wearing red shirts, converged at the public plaza of Barangay Balabag, one of three villages of the world-famous island resort around 5 p.m. calling for the junking of House Bill 1109 (Declaring Certain Parcels of the Public Domain Within Boracay Island, Malay, Aklan as Agricultural Land Open to Disposition).
Speakers took turns denouncing the bill and vowed to defend their land which they have occupied for decades. Among them were from families who have been staying on the island for generations.
The bill, authored by Aklan Rep. Florencio Miraflores, categorizes 626.59 hectares of the 1,006-hectare island as public domain. Another 337.68 ha will be categorized as forestland or protected zones while the remaining areas are buffer zones and easements.
The bill was passed by the House on April 29, 2008 and has been transmitted to the Senate.
Property owners and land occupants opposing the bill have criticized HB 1109 as unconstitutional and would deprive them of their "vested rights" over lots they have occupied for years.
They claimed that the bill would subject their properties open to acquisition by other investors. If the bill is passed, they also claimed that they could lose their properties that they have invested with millions of pesos.
Investor Chito Tañada who decided to settle on the island early this year said he was shocked to know that his property which he is developing as a condominium complex is sitting on an area classified as forestland.
"The bill must be opposed or amended so that it will favor property owners," he said in a press conference preceding the protest rally. "As it is, (the bill) is unconstitutional because it assails our vested rights."
Tañada said the delineation of the island into forestland, agricultural land and buffer zones are inaccurate because areas categorized as forestland are already occupied for years.
"Almost every part of Boracay has been occupied for more than 30 years," said Tañada.
He also pointed out that 30 percent of the island was already titled before the issuance of Proclamation 1801 by the late President Ferdinand Marcos on Nov. 10, 1978.
The 1978 proclamation declared Boracay and other islands and coves as tourist zones and marine reserves under the administrative authority. It forbid development projects without the approval of the government and effect forbid the further titling of lots on the island.
Most of the business owners and residents have been occupying other lots for around 30 years through tax declarations.
Property owner Lara Salaver said that under the bill's categorizations of areas on the island, around 199 hectares of the the Shangri-La-owned property on the northern end of the island is considered a forestland.
The $60-million Shangri-La Resort and Spa in Boracay's Yapak village is set to open late this year.
Salaver said the bill is "confiscatory" because government would have control over their properties with the passage of the bill.
Soccorro Ruchanie Gadon, long-time resident and resort owner, said the bill endangers their properties.
"This bill is another insecurity for us because we can lose our properties that have been with our families since we we're born here," said Gadon.
The opponents of the bill have asked the Senate to block the passage of the bill. On Wednesday, a group of resort owners held a dialogue with some senators and presented a manifesto with 2,400 signatories of stakeholders on the island opposing the bill.
Salaver said they are calling on Miraflores to recall the bill.
She said Miraflores should have just waited for the Supreme Court to rule on a pending appeal on a lower court ruling that recognized the right of occupants on the island to have their properties titled through judicial confirmation.