Inquirer Visayas
Boracay land conflict boils over
By Nestor P. Burgos Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:19:00 11/22/2008
Filed Under: Tourism, Regional authorities
BORACAY ISLAND – The scene would have been unimaginable years ago: Policemen and demolition team members facing off with occupants of a commercial lot enclosed with barbed-wire on the famous white beach of Boracay Island.
Long-time residents and tourists could only watch from the sidelines as stones flew and tear gas smoke engulfed the air. Sheriffs and the dismantling crew were implementing a court order over the hotly disputed property early this month.
The night before, at the opposite end of the island, armed security guards hired by a property claimant forcibly entered and occupied a posh resort being managed by an Australian. At least two staff members of the resort were slightly hurt during the takeover.
Australian Greg Hutchinson, his Filipino wife Viveca and their 5-year-old twins are still holed up in their room on the third floor of an apartment building. Editha Meren and Evangeline Dalino, Hutchinson’s former sub-lessee, hold the outside ground.
Both parties are claiming legal possession over the property.
Although policemen have been posted on the resort premises, the Hutchinsons fear for their safety. Hutchinson has accused the police of being lenient on the occupants because Meren is the sister of Mayor Ciceron Cawaling of Malay town, which has jurisdiction over the 1,032-hectare island.
The Boracay Special Tourist Police Office has denied the charge and filed criminal complaints of grave coercion and robbery with violence against Meren, Dalino and nine others.
Resort and business operators wary of the negative impact of the showdowns have scrambled to contain the possible backlash as the peak season of tourist arrivals starts.
“The incidents are isolated and unrelated. It’s still business as usual,” said Loubelle Cann, president of the Boracay Foundation Inc., a group of business owners and operators. Cann said the foundation was trying to correct the impression of some foreign tourists who had asked about the peace and order situation on the island.
Priced property
The recent confrontations reveal the intensifying conflicts among claimants of prized property.
Early this year, a retired soldier was killed in a shoot-out with security guards over a disputed lot. Several other armed encounters have been reported since last year.
Chief Supt. Isagani Cuevas, Western Visayas police director, saw no need to beef up the island’s police force. “The conflicts won’t stop if these are not resolved by the courts. We will just ensure that no law is violated and no one is hurt,” he said.
The disputes have been complicated by a recent Supreme Court ruling declaring much of Boracay as public land and refuting the claim of occupants that they had already acquired vested rights through years of stay and hundreds of millions of pesos in investments.
On Oct. 8, the high court upheld Proclamation No. 1064 issued by President Macapagal-Arroyo on May 22, 2006, which stated that about 60 percent of the island is alienable and disposable, and the rest is forest land and protected areas.
While some investors have welcomed the proclamation and court ruling, long-time residents have raised howls of protest for fear of losing their property to the government or new investors interested in the island’s P12-billion tourism industry.
Property owners who questioned the legality of Proclamation 1064 have filed two separate motions for reconsideration before the Supreme Court.
Orlando Sacay, owner of the posh Waling-Waling resort and one of the petitioners, said the proclamation and court ruling could drive away investors.
Last week, Boracay investors in Hong Kong held a press conference to raise apprehensions of the Philippine government’s “land-grab,” but this was refuted by Filipino officials.
Environment Secretary Jose “Lito” Atienza assured investors and land titleholders that their interests would be safeguarded with only “minimal dislocation.” He, however, warned those who were occupying lots illegally and those building in restricted areas.
Environment on back seat
The land titling controversy and disputes overshadow the long-term and pressing environmental concerns of Boracay, especially with the lifting of the moratorium on building construction last month.
The Department of Environmental and Natural Resources and the Department of Tourism have finalized the island’s environmental master plan and Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP), but have not put the blueprints in place.
The master plan, which covers 2008-2033, aims to preserve the environment and natural resources while ensuring the sustainable development of the island. It contains a comprehensive examination of the current environmental situation of the island. It evaluates the impacts of tourism-related activities and projects, as well as future development schemes.
“If the degradation of the total environment is left unaddressed, the situation will only get worse unless action is taken promptly to reverse it,” it said.
The DENR blames the worsening environmental threats on development projects that have violated existing laws, policies and ordinances. These include the construction of resorts and tourism facilities along easement areas, hampering of public access, destruction of the natural coastal beauty, indiscriminate development of areas, illegal reclamation of wetlands, and clearing of forested areas for building construction.
Fourteen concerns need to be addressed through immediate and long-term measures. These include flooding, water pollution, especially of groundwater, noise and air pollution, solid waste management and depletion of biodiversity amid the continued influx of tourists and migrants.
The DENR has warned that full tourism load would be reached in two to three years. The number of tourists average nearly 10,000 daily.
The CLUP seeks to address the uneven development of the island – mainly concentrated in Barangay Balabag – and spread the development to the two other villages of Yapak and Manoc-Manoc.
It aims to address key land-use problems, including uncontrolled urbanization, uneven distribution of development, settlement use and pattern, movement and circulation system, land ownership and access and encroachment on critical areas.
Unregulated development
In assessing what has gone awry in the developments of Boracay, the CLUP points to the failure of monitoring and regulation.
“There seems to be an observable chronic breakdown in implementing the development processes, particularly in giving and monitoring development and building permits,” it said.
Most stakeholders agree that a key to solving Boracay’s problem is the creation of an autonomous administrative body, similar to the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, which is not headed by elected officials.
But the local government is against the idea.
Malay Mayor Ciceron Cawaling said the Local Government Code should be followed. “We have the barangay and municipal officials already. We are the ones who know the situation. It will just muddle things up if there are too many managers,” he said.
While he is not opposing plans to improve tourism, these should be approved by the municipal council first, Cawaling said. “We are wary that the interest of one group or person will dominate here.”
The resistance is understandable, coming from a town dependent on the island’s tourism for almost all of its income. Boracay has three of the 17 barangays of Malay (pop.: 24,519 as of 2000) but accounts for 80 to 90 percent of the municipality’s income.
Last year, Malay earned P60 million from licenses, permits and fees, mostly in Boracay. It raised P22 million from the collection of the P50 environmental fee, according to Cawaling.
The provincial government also earns by charging P50 for every visitor in terminal fees at the Caticlan jetty port and passenger terminal. It earned P30 million in 2006 and P40 million last year as more domestic tourists visited the island, many through roll-on-roll-off craft, according to port records.
Tough decisions
But tough decisions need to be made to save the country’s top tourist drawer and income earner.
In 1996, 163,727 tourists, including 72,566 foreign and 91,161 domestic visitors, came and poured in P3 billion to the economy, data from the DOT regional office showed.
Five years later, the number went up to 264,807 (76,475 foreign and 188,332 domestic) with earnings reaching P4.868 billion.
Last year, 596,707 tourists arrived (208,870 foreign and 359,433 domestic) while earnings ballooned to P10.969 billion.
Despite its problems. Boracay remains attractive as one of the best beaches in the world and “still the best party place,” according to tourism regional director Edwin Trompeta.
But for how long?
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