Boracay beach. INQUIRER file photo
Thirty-one families will receive less than eight hectares of agricultural land in Boracay island, a Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) official said Tuesday.
Environment Undersecretary Jonas Leones said that from the initial 150 hectares, the agricultural land that is going to be distributed was trimmed down to a little less than eight hectares after the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) studied and evaluated the feasibility of making it an agricultural area.
“Kasi ang mangyayari diyan, if we will distribute iyong ganoong kalaking hectares sa individual families, baka maliliit na lang ang makuha nila, so hindi na magiging… parang residential na ‘yan instead of agricultural area,” Leones said in a Palace briefing.
(Because what will happen there, if we distribute that big hectares of land to individual families, they may just get a little portion, so it will just be residential instead of agricultural area.)
“So ito ngayon iyong tinututukan ng DAR, and perhaps sabi nga siguro before Christmas, the DAR can already resolve how to distribute these lands,” he added.
Leones noted that the beneficiaries of the land were the natives of the island.
“These are identified as the… mga original talaga eh, iyong mga IPs (indigenous people) natin, and that is part of the directive of the President,” he said.
President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the world-famous island rehabilitated six months ago after it became a “cesspool” due to poor sewage system.
He also said that part of the island will be placed under land reform program and be given to its natives. /jpv
READ: Duterte puts entire Boracay Island under land reform