DENR lifts 10-year ban on Boracay land titling

PIECE OF PARADISE Business and homeowners on Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan, may nowresume processing their property titles following the lifting of a moratorium imposed by the environment department. —JACK JARILLA

ILOILO CITY — The conduct of surveys and titling of land on Boracay Island will resume after 10 years, bringing hope to property claimants of having prized lots titled.

In a memorandum dated June 15, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu directed the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Western Visayas region to lift the suspension of the disposition of alienable and disposable public agricultural lands on the resort island in Malay town in Aklan province.

Cimatu, in his memorandum, revoked the memorandum issued on March 23, 2011, by then Environment Secretary Ramon Paje who suspended the approval of survey plans, processing of public land title applications, and issuance of patents in Boracay.

Business owners and residents have welcomed Cimatu’s order.

“The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI)-Boracay welcomes this excellent news and is grateful for the favorable consideration of [Cimatu] and is appreciative of all those who have worked so hard to make this happen,” Wesley van der Voort, PCCI-Boracay president, said in a statement.

“Many of us are ecstatic. Some cannot believe that it has finally been lifted,” said Malay Councilor Nenette Aguirre-Graf, a Boracay resident.

Ending property disputes

Natividad Bernardino, general manager of the Boracay Inter-Agency Rehabilitation and Management Group, said the resumption of land surveys and titling of land on the island was “a welcome development” for the natives of Boracay who had been demanding tenurial security and rightful ownership of alienable and disposable lands they possess.

“Hopefully this will end disputed claims and land grabbing of powerful clans,” she said in a statement sent to the Inquirer.

Only about a third of the 1,032-hectare island belonging to the heirs of Ciriaco Tirol Sr. has titles.

Most land claimants hold tax declarations and pay realty taxes, many for more than 50 years, as proof of possession or right over properties.

Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, in 2006, issued Proclamation No. 1064, which categorized 628.96 ha, or 60.94 percent of the island, as alienable and disposable (ownership is transferable), and the rest as forestland and protected areas.

The proclamation was the first time that land in Boracay was classified, which is a requisite for titling.

The titling of lands covered by tax declarations is seen as the long-term solution to address property disputes that have erupted to violence in previous years.

The Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force, which has been leading rehabilitation efforts on the island since May 2018, has been clearing areas categorized as forestland from illegal structures and settlers.

Ten property claimants and longtime residents, including expatriates, were arrested and criminally charged in November last year for occupying forestlands.

Their arrest and ejection of other settlers in forestlands amid the pandemic raised an outcry from residents who appealed for compassion. Several residents and property claimants have also questioned the land classification of areas considered as forestland.

Since 2008, at least nine bills have been filed in Congress to reclassify areas on the island and allow the titling of lots occupied for decades but these had not been enacted. INQ