|
The
continuing development of Boracay Island as a prime
tourist destination is now the subject of heated debate
between local and national government officials. The
debate was triggered by the desire of local officials of
the municipality of Malay to develop the island to realize
its full potential as a world-class tourism destination,
on one hand, and on the other hand, the desire by national
government officials to protect the island’s environment
and natural resources from the hazards of unbridled
development.
Proclamation 1064
Central to
this is the vague land use and classification of certain
areas in the island, which was aggravated by the issuance
of Presidential Proclamation 1064 on May 22, 2006, by
President Arroyo. The proclamation is being contested in
court by various stakeholders, particularly hotel, resort
and restaurant owners in the island.
The
issuance of Proclamation 1064 paved the way for the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to
step into the picture.
The
proclamation classified the entire island into forestland
and agricultural land for purposes of protecting the
island, as well as declaring some areas as alienable and
disposable pursuant to Section 13 of Presidential Decree
705, or the Revised Forestry Reform Code of the
Philippines, and Commonwealth Act 141, or the Public Land
Act, subject to actual ground survey and delineation.
The
proclamation also declared that all existing roads, trails
and pathways and a 15-meter buffer zone on each side of
the centerline of roads and trails which are reserved for
right-of-way shall form part of the area reserved for
forestland protection purposes.
Illegal
construction?
DENR
Secretary Lito Atienza recently filed graft charges
against the mayor of Malay town, Aklan, Ceciron Cawaling,
and officials of J. King and Sons Inc. in connection with
construction of the P1.2-billion Boracay Crown Regency
Hotel and Convention Center project in barangay Balabag,
which the DENR deems illegal.
The
construction site, Atienza averred, used to be a wetland,
hence, the area is unfit for such construction project and
falls under the jurisdiction of the DENR, that being its
classification.
This is
the first time the DENR filed graft charges against a
local chief executive for being remiss on his duty.
Atienza said the mayor gave the owner of the hotel undue
favor in allowing the company to proceed with the
construction, albeit at its initial stage of hauling and
compacting back-filling materials, even though there’s a
construction moratorium.
Wetland or
tourism zone?
Local
officials, as well as company executives of J. King and
Sons, insisted that the project is not covered by the
moratorium, because it was already ongoing when the
moratorium took effect on January 2, 2008.
Seeking
court reprieve, J. King and Sons asked Branch 5 Judge Elmo
del Rosario to create a commission that will determine the
land classification of the company’s 1.6-hectare property
to once and for all settle the issue. The company insisted
that per its tax declaration since 1948, it was an
agricultural land devoted to coconut, and in 1997, it was
reclassified as a tourism zone by the municipal government
of Malay.
The court
has granted the petition and has asked the parties to
submit a list of names from which the members of the
commission will be picked.
Prior to
the issuance of Proclamation 1064, illegal settlers had
started to settle on the island. To date, only 20 percent
of the island has land titles. Most of those who claim
rights pay only taxes and, by virtue of tax declaration,
use the land accordingly.
Tourist
destination
The
municipality of Malay, Aklan, is a prime tourist
destination because of the beautiful island of Boracay.
Hundreds of thousands of tourists come to visit the
island, prompting its development mainly for tourism
purposes.
In the
past decade, more and more people have settled on the
island because of the income potential of tourist
arrivals, especially during the summer.
Malay is
one of the 17 municipalities that comprise the Province of
Aklan, having a land area of 6,731 hectares or 67.31 sq km
comprising 3.63 percent of the total land area of the
province. It is located in the northwestern tip of Panay
bounded on the north by Sibuyan and Sulu Sea, on the east
by the municipality of Nabas, on the west by the
municipality of Buruanga and on the south by the province
of Antique. It includes Boracay Island and Tigwatian or
Laurel Island.
It is
approximately 76 road kilometers from Kalibo, the capital
town of Aklan, 237 road kilometers from Iloilo City, and
12 hours’ sea travel and 45 minutes’ air travel from
Manila.
‘Hilly and
mountainous’
According
to the official web site of the municipality of Malay,
60.2 percent of land area of Malay is classified as hilly
to mountainous, irregularly shaped and with elevation of
less than 600 meters. In Boracay Island, about two-thirds
of the total land area falls between 8-percent and
16-percent slope. Lowland and gently sloping areas are
found near the shoreline.
Based on
its existing land classification, 33.9395 hectares are
residential; 2,719.0742 hectares agricultural; 13.6800
hectares commercial; 2,599.0000 hectares forests; 2.3960
hectares institutional; 13.8400 hectares utilities;
1,004.0150 tourism; 8.7012 hectares parks and open space;
111.8258 hectares other built-up areas in rural barangays;
and 224.5283 hectares meadows/grasslands.
Part of
the island, according to the DENR, remains a forest, and
thus should be protected from further destruction.
Atienza
said that aside from the forest, the island is host to
natural bodies of water such as rivers, streams, swamps,
wetlands and mangrove areas. Of the 11 swamps, wetlands
and mangrove areas, only two remain, one of which is
slowly being illegally reclaimed.
In
explaining why he has decided to file charges against the
mayor of Malay, Atienza said most of these wetlands were
reclaimed and disposed of as private property, with the
approval of the local government unit.
Investment
haven
Despite
the issues hounding Boracay, it remains as an investment
haven because of the tourist-drawing beach properties.
Richard
King, chairman and chief executive officer of J. King and
Sons Inc., is bullish over his company’s multimillion-peso
investment in the world-renowned Boracay Island.
King said
despite the moratorium issue hounding one of his company’s
four projects, sales are still up even before actual
construction has begun.
The
six-month construction moratorium on new construction took
effect only in January 2, 2008. By
July 2, 2008, construction of hotels and condominiums, as well as resorts
in the prime tourist destination, is expected to resume.
Room
shortage
At
present, there are only a total of 7,500 rooms to
accommodate tourist arrivals in the island, particularly
during summer, Holy Week and the Christmas season.
The
highest recorded number of tourists arriving in Boracay
was in 2006, wherein some 500,000 local and foreign
tourists came for the summer vacation, according to the
Boracay Foundation Inc.—an organization of various
stakeholders that include hotel, resort and restaurant
owners on the island.
Lucrative
business
The
hotel-and-restaurant business is a lucrative business in
Boracay. Most of the tourists are moneyed and are
themselves willing to buy property, if not condominium
units, where they can stay on yearly visits to Boracay.
According
to King, as of last week, 20 percent of the 457 rooms of
the P1.2-billion Boracay Crown Regency Hotel and
Convention Center in barangay Balabag have been sold even
though they just announced an increase in their
condominium’s unit price by P1 million, or from P3 million
to P4 million, owing to the demand.
The
company’s biggest project so far represents “water,” one
of the four elements of nature which include fire, earth
and wind that each of the company’s four projects
represent.
Representing “fire” is the P120-million, 40-room Crown
Regency Hotel in Station 3 of the Island, to be formally
opened in September this year. The Crown Regency Prince
Hotel, an P80- million, 36-room condominium-hotel project
representing “earth,” will start operating in December
this year.
A fourth
project that will represent wind is still in the design
and planning stage.
The
Boracay Crown Regency Hotel and Convention Center boasts
of a 2,800-sq-m swimming pool—the biggest swimming pool
ever to be built on the island—a water park, slides and
kiddie attractions that it claims no other hotel or resort
in Boracay offers.
It is a
few minutes’ walk away from the beach. The hotel is
accessible by tricycle, the only means of public
transportation leading to the beaches of Boracay.
The
Cebuano businessman is confident that in the next few
months, sales will continue to go up and his company will
eventually hit the target sale even before actual
construction takes place.
The
project is presently at its initial stage. Workers are
hauling and compacting back-filling materials in the
1.6-hectare property, situated along the main road of
barangay Balabag.
This,
according to King, despite the supposed adverse impact of
the negative publicity the company’s project has been
getting as a result of what he described as the
“malicious” allegations by Environment Secretary Atienza
against the company in filing graft charges against Mayor
Cawaling and company executives of J. King and Sons for
proceeding with the construction project.
King said
Boracay remains a promising investment haven for those in
the hotel, resort and restaurant business, because of the
influx of foreign and local tourists from all over the
world.
Bold
projection
In the
next 10 years, local officials of Malay expect the number
of tourists visiting Boracay to increase. At present,
King said there’s already a room shortage of 5,000 during
the peak season. He predicts this will increase to 8,000
in the next few years.
The
company is also expanding its business to
Bohol, and King noted that the province promises to be the next
ecotourism destination in the
Philippines.
“We are
already looking for properties for future projects,
particularly in Bohol, because as the DOT [Department of
Tourism] said, Bohol needs big hotels soon,” King said.
King has
found an ally in local government officials who support
the idea of developing Boracay to achieve its full
potential as a prime tourist destination.
Local
government officials said they are not keen on issuing a
cease-and-desist order to stop ongoing construction in the
world-famous Boracay Island that is not covered by the
six-month moratorium passed and approved by the members of
the municipal council.
Ed Sancho,
executive assistant to Mayor Cawaling, clarified that the
moratorium covers only new construction and not those that
were given building permits before January 2, 2008.
He said
Cawaling has, in fact, strictly ordered concerned town
officials not to issue building permits since the
moratorium took effect. The moratorium will expire on
July 2, 2008.
Councilors
Rowen Aguirre and Welvic Gelito, who respectively chair
the committees on laws and tourism, echoed his sentiment.
“We cannot just stop an ongoing project just because the
DENR wants it stopped. On our part, we can only stop a
project if there’s a violation of the terms and conditions
of the building permit,” Aguirre said.
He said
such is the case of the controversial P1.2-billion Boracay
Crown Regency Hotel and Condominium Project in barangay
Balabag.
According
to Sancho, ongoing construction projects should proceed
with the construction activities because they are not
covered by the moratorium. The rule, the local official
said, applies to all projects.
There are
ongoing construction projects other than the Boracay Crown
Regency Hotel and Convention Center, according to Gelito,
and issuing a cease-and-desist order to J. King and Sons
while allowing others to continue their ongoing
construction would be interpreted as a move to single out
the company, he said.
Meanwhile,
King is expected to sue DENR Secretary Lito Atienza and
DENR Region 6 officials and employees for allegedly
causing the company undue injury.
King
insisted that the Boracay Crown Regency Hotel and
Convention Center is a tourism project that’s
“aboveboard”—taking note that his company has complied
with all the requirements from all agencies.
At
present, local officials of Malay, Aklan, are drafting a
Comprehensive Land Use Plan to serve as their guide in
issuing permits for the development of the island. At the
same time, the DENR, too, is set to finish the final draft
of the Environmental Master Plan for Boracay for the
protection of the environment and the island’s natural
resources. | 
