Police assure safety of Australian resort operator in Boracay
Police have assured the Australian embassy of the safety of an Australian resort operator involved in a standoff over a property dispute on Boracay Island.
Chief Supt. Isagani Cuevas, Western Visayas police director, said he made the assurance to Vice Consul Jayne Williams who visited the Boracay Sandcastles Resort last week to check on the situation of Australian national Greg Hutchinson and his family.
“We assured the embassy that we will protect their national and all others involved in the dispute,” Cuevas said.
Hutchinson, his wife Viveca and their 5-year-old twin children have been holed up their third floor apartment room since November 5 after armed security guards hired by Editha Meren and Evangeline Dalino took over the resort claiming legal control over the property and because Hutchinson allegedly refused to leave resort despite the termination of their lease agreement.
Meren is the owner of the lot where the disputed property is located while Dalino is a former sub-lessee of Hutchinson.
Cuevas said the vice consul was initially prevented from entering the property because the police were not sure of her identity. But she was later allowed to go in and meet with the Hutchinsons upon verification from the embassy.
Hutchinson has claimed that the takeover was illegal because the 20-year lease agreement he had entered into with Meren in 1980 and extended it by 10 years until 2019 is still in effect.
the takeover. He claimed his family is being held against his will but this has been refuted by policemen posted at the resort.
Meren and Dalino has been allowed to stay at the property beside Hutchinsons apartment building.
Police have filed criminal complaints against a property owner and 10 other persons who forcibly took over the resort operated by an Australian national on Boracay Island. The respondents included Meren and Dalino.
The police have accused the respondents of two counts of grave coercion for allegedly forcibly entering the resort, breaking open the glass door and pointing guns at security guard Adier Elorde and Melchor Ferrer, nephew of Hutchinson's wife Viveca.
It also filed two complaints of robbery with violence against or intimidation of persons on the respondents for the alleged loss of Ferrer's cellular phone worth P7,000, P1,600 in cash, knapsack, bag, pair of shoes, belt, rice cooker amounting to P3,500.