BORACAY ISLAND, Aklan--Aklan Rep. Florencio Miraflores will push through with his controversial bill declaring 60 percent of lands in Boracay as public domain and open for disposition.

As he turned down calls of some lot occupants and resort owners here to recall House Bill 1109, the proposed measure split resort and property owners here over their rights and the procedure to have their lots titled.

Miraflores said he would be open to amendments to HB 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 would be "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 told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net) 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 hectares will be categorized as forest land 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 lots they that 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 Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on May 22 that categorized 628.96 ha or 60.94 percent of the island as alienable and disposable.

Miraflores said Proclamation 1064 was "confiscatory" because titles for areas declared as alienable and disposable could 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 had proof that the lands they occupied have been under private ownership for the past 30 years. This, he said, could be proven with tax declarations. The 30 year-occupancy requirement would include those of previous owners.

"The present ownership of lots on the island is in limbo. We must have order," said Miraflores.

He said some landowners would be affected by the bill provisions 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 would be affected because it has been 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 could still be included in the bicameral committee hearings if Senate would pass a counterpart bill or adopt the House version.

He assured the Boracay landowners that if the bill were enacted, owners of properties located in areas categorized as forest land or protected areas would not be removed and all titles issued under the Torrens System would be respected.

But he said no further construction would 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 and Industry - Boracay.

Uy said the chamber, with around 50 members, unanimously endorsed the bill because it would correct the defects of Proclamation 1064 and denied that it was "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," Uy told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Uy said that if necessary, they would ask the Senate to approve the bill.

"We must look at it with the greater good in mind," he said.

But oppositors who held a protest rally here on Friday were not satisfied with Miraflores' assurances.

Architect Lara Salaver, a resort owner, said the bill offered no guarantee that their properties would be protected. She said Miraflores should instead wait for the Supreme Court to rule on pending cases on land titling in Boracay.

The cases include the petition to nullify Proclamation 1064 for being unconstitutional and an appeal by the government on a lower court ruling recognizing the rights of land owners to have their lots titled through judicial confirmation.