Boracay residents, who would become beneficiaries of the government’s land reform program, must wait for at least 10 years before they were allowed to sell their property to businesses, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) said on Thursday.
Agrarian Reform Undersecretary David Erro made the clarification in the wake of President Duterte’s pronouncement that he would allow beneficiaries of the agrarian reform program in Boracay to sell their land to big businesses to make a fortune.
“Generally, the land can be awarded only to qualified recipients, who may not be allowed to dispose of the land for a minimum of 10 years,” Erro said.
“But even so, any sale must comply with the requirements set by law,” he said.
Land to Ati
In a speech in Pampanga on Tuesday, the President said he planned to award parcels of land in Boracay for distribution to members of the Ati tribe, the original inhabitants of the island, under the government’s agrarian reform program.
“I want to give it to the natives, so by the time that big businesses will begin to go in, the locals already possess the land title and they can sell it,” Mr. Duterte said.
“My consolation is that they will be able to handle money,” he said.
DAR officials said they could immediately place 25 hectares in Boracay under land reform—14.7 hectares in the village of Yapac, 10.1 hectares in the village of Manoc-Manoc and 1.1 hectares in the village of Balabag.
DAR officials said they had submitted to Malacañang a draft executive order that would direct the distribution of land in Boracay.
Busy with Boracay
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), lead agency in the ongoing cleanup of Boracay, has not firmed up plans to provide firearms to forest rangers because of work in the resort island.
Alvin Legazpi, an official of the DENR employees’ union Kalipunan ng mga Kawani sa Kagawaran ng Kalikasan, said no steps had been taken to push the proposal of Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu to arm DENR workers, particularly those involved in guarding forests against illegal loggers and poachers.
The proposal followed the killing of a DENR forest inspector in Antipolo City.