Echoes From

BY JOHNNY DAYANG

'Daang Matuwid' comes to Boracay

Finally, the tedious, rambunctious, and exasperating dispute concerning the owning of land, as well as the rights to property, in the paradise that is Boracay Island will soon come to an end.

The House of Representatives has approved on second reading House Bill No. 4796 that allows long-term land occupants on Boracay Island to have their properties titled.

Word has it that the bill, authored by Rep. Florencio Miraflores, will pass the third and final reading and will hopefully be ratified into law before the end of August.

It wasn't long ago when Boracay residents were locked in an acrimonious fight with then Environment Secretary Michael Defensor over property rights.

Back in 2005, small resort owners that have been living and doing business in Boracay for decades grew upset over Defensor's plan to declare portions of the island as alienable and disposable. More unsettling was the government push to have the declared lands open for public auction.

Had it pushed through, the Defensor plan would have given government opportunity to take over properties already developed by small resort owners. Being all untitled - their only evidence of ownership being their tax declarations - they could have been subjected to direct and collateral attack by other parties claining ownership of their properties.

Even today, about 98% of the 1,032-hectare island-resort are untitled and most property holdings are substantiated only by tax declarations. This condition has given the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and those holding dubious titles to engage in property scams.

Last April, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje ordered the relief of several DENR officials on Boracay and in Aklan for alleged irregularities in the issuance of land titles involving properties costing hundreds of millions of pesos. Paje also ordered an investigation of the issuance of homestead patents covering 9.75 hectares to 31 land title applicants.

Immediately ratifying House Bill No. 4796 is pure and unadulterated proof that President Benigno Aquino III's 'Daang Matuwid' finally reached Boracay. No more fears reached about going full throttle in expanding one's resort business, only to find the government taking it all away the next day.

With the law in place, PNoy and the DENR can bank on a more vibrant, definitely world-class Boracay.