Aklan solon to push through with Boracay bill
BORACAY ISLAND, AKLAN—Aklan Rep. Florencio Miraflores has turned down calls of some lot occupants and resort owners here to recall a controversial bill he filed categorizing more than half of the island-resort as public domain and open for disposition.
The bill has split resort and property owners here over their rights and the procedure to have their lots titled.
Miraflores said he is open to amendments to House Bill 1109 (Declaring Certain Parcels of the Public Domain Within Boracay Island, Malay, Aklan as Agricultural Land Open to Disposition). But he denied that the bill is "confiscatory" as claimed by oppositors.
"I will push through. But if they can offer me a better version of the bill, I will accept it," Miraflores said at the sidelines of a dialogue with property and resort owners here on Saturday.
The bill,co-authored by Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio "Iggy" Arroyo, 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 and has been transmitted to the Senate.
A group of resort owners and land occupants are claiming that they could lose the lot that they have been occupying for years if the bill is passed.
But Miraflores said there could have been "misinformation" on the purpose and provisions of the bill.
He said the bill actually "corrects" defects in Presidential Proclamation 1064, issued by President Macapagal-Arroyo on May 22 categorizing 628.96 hectares or 60.94 percent of the 1,006-hectare island as alienable and disposable.
Miraflores said Proclamation 1064 is "confiscatory" because titles for areas declared as alienable and disposable can only be acquired through public auction as provided by Commonwealth Act No. 141 or the Public Land Act of 1936.
He said the bill would allow land occupants to have their lots titled through the issuance of free land patents if they have proof that they have been continuously occupying the land and paying tax declarations for 30 years. This would include duration of occupancy of previous owners.
"The present ownership of lots on the island is in limbo. We must have order," said Miraflores.
He said some land owners will be affected because of the bill but he said sacrifices should be made for the good of the majority. He pointed out that a one-hectare property owned by his family will be affected because it is located on a slope, a protected area, in Sitio Bolabog in Barangay Balabag.
During the dialogue with members of the Boracay Foundation Inc., a group of resort and business owners on the island, Miraflores said changes in the bill can still be included in the bicameral committee hearings if the Senate will pass a counterpart bill or adopt the House version.
He assured the property owners that if the bill is enacted, properties located in areas categorized as forestland or protected areas will not be removed and all titles issued under the Torrens System will be respected.
But he said no further construction will be allowed in these protected areas to help preserve the already critical environmental situation of the island.
"There is no order now (on land ownership) in Boracay. Wetlands are being covered and no-build zones are being used. We do not want the remaining (trees) to disappear," he said during the heated discussion.
The issue has split land and resort owners here as another group has openly supported the bill.
"We are fully supporting the bill," said Charles Uy, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce & Industry – Boracay.
Uy said the chamber, with around 50 members, unanimously endorses the bill because it corrects the defects of Proclamation 1064. He denied that it is "confiscatory."
"If the bill becomes a law, it will be economically beneficial to us because lands will be now titled and its market value will surely rise," said Uy.
Uy said that if necessary, they will ask the Senate to approve the bill.
"We must look at it with the greater good in mind," he said.