Boracay residents, resort owners banking on SC to save them

BORACAY, Aklan — Local residents and resort owners here are optimistic the Supreme Court (SC) will save them from being ejected out of the island resort in their prayer to nullify Presidential Proclamation No. 1064.

Local officials led by Malay Mayor Ceciron Cawaling and Aklan Rep. Florencio Miraflores claimed their constituents and resort owners are collectively banking on the ruling of the high tribunal to uphold their "prior vested rights" on the land they have since bought and inherited from their ancestors.

"The court is the highest court of the land. I think we will be able to get through this with their help. We have been here since 1945... We also hope the President can provide a solution. But we will follow whatever the SC says," Cawaling told a gathering of protesters here Saturday night.

Resort owners led by Orlando Sacay filed a petition before the SC seeking the recall of PP 1064 which reclassifies the 628-hectare island resort as "alienable and disposable."

This means the whole island can be auctioned off to any investor who can make the highest bid.

Miraflores said they were not challenging the authority of President Arroyo over the issuance of PP 1064 but only to question the insistence of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to reclassify the island as disposable.

Miraflores cited the SC ruling on 2005 where it was held that the occupants of a land that had not been touched or at least classified by the government for a continuous 30 years gives them the right to the parcel of land.

"It means we have all the right to a land title. This is very clear. This is judicial titling," Miraflores explained.

All the DENR has to do is the ministerial act of conducting a "cadastral survey," he said.

Boracay residents earlier won their case on the same issues against the government before the Kalibo court in August 1999, which the Court of Appeals later upheld in March 2005.

The courts allowed Boracay landowners prior vested rights and cannot just be "prejudiced" by a government decree in reclassifying the land.

The government, however, appealed the same case before the SC.

But even while the case is still pending, Mrs. Arroyo decided to issue PP 1064 last May 22, much to the surprise of local residents and businessmen.

Quirino Marquinez, lawyer of Sacay who led the filing of the petition before the SC, reiterated the issue is not just a fight of the businessmen against the government, but for all the workers in the island’s tourism industry who will lose their jobs once PP 1064 is implemented.

"We want to preserve the ownership of the people in this island, because eventually, if PP 1064 pushes through, Boracay will lose itself as a world-renowned tourist destination," he told reporters at a press conference here.

Sacay, chairman of the Boracay Foundation Inc., expressed bewilderment on the reclassification, pointing out that the island could never be considered a forest and agricultural land or a farmland where farmers can till their crops.

Following the government’s argument that Boracay is agricultural and forestland, Sacay pointed to Shangrila, a 12-hectare resort facility, which no less than President Arroyo herself inaugurated.

If PP 1064 is implemented, Shangrila will be ejected out of the island.

"I don’t know if Shangrila knows that or not. But I asked the DENR and they told me that based on the proclamation, that land title is null and void. That property has been classified by Namria (National Mapping Agency) as forest," Sacay explained further.

Nanette Aguirre-Graft, president and owner of The Boracay Beach Resort, noted government’s sudden interest in the island-paradise now that business boomed in Boracay.

She revealed the government never helped them when they were just starting out, but are now trying to make them squat on their lands.

"Is there really an intention to title our lands or the government simply wants us out here? It’s so disgusting to think that despite our contribution to tourism, they are taking away our lands. We developed this island on our own and without any help from them, now they want to take the whole island away from us?" she asked.