Like a good soldier, Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones said he would follow President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to place under the government’s land reform program some 400 hectares in Boracay islands.Castriciones said that “there are no marching orders yet” but added that they would implement the order if “the President says so.”
“If the order of the President is concerned, it’s valid and legal if the plan is to convert it to agricultural land. That can be done,” Castriciones said.
“If the order of the President is concerned, it’s valid and legal if the plan is to convert it to agricultural land. That can be done,” he added.
DAR data shows that there are a total of 628.96 hectares of agricultural land in the island, but only 220.45 hectares of were converted for other purposes.
That means that there are some 408.51 hectares which can be placed under land reform.
Castriciones also explained that in the issue of demolition, DAR said that their mandate is to distribute land to farmers and will leave demolition activities to other government agencies.
“As far as land is concerned, our main mandate is to process the distribution of land to farmer-beneficiaries and to identify the so-called farmer-beneficiaries. We will abide faithfully by the provisions of the law,” the agrarian reform chief said.
Castriciones added that at least 15.5 hectares of agricultural land are available to be immediately distributed to 84 beneficiaries who were identified during an inspection in the island recently.
In 2006, then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed Proclamation No. 1064 classified Boracay as forestland (for protection purposes) and agricultural land (alienable and disposable).
The Supreme Court later affirmed the proclamation’s validity.
Meanwhile, Agrarian Reform Undersecretary David Erro said that the structures constructed on the 400 hectares of agricultural land identified by the government are considered illegal, since DAR had not allowed the lands to be used for other purposes.
Erro said that should the President orders that agricultural lands be distributed to farmers immediately, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources must issue a Deed of Transfer of Rights to DAR first, which in turn, will start the process of distributing land.
“There was an inter-agency meeting, but there are no formal talks yet,” Erro said.
Boracay had been closed to the public beginning April 26, after Duterte ordered its shutdown due to environmental problems.
Before it was ordered close, the president said that he would rather “give the land to the farmers.”
In 2005, data showed that some 32,267 residents live in in the barangays of Balabag, Manoc-Manoc and Yapak in the 1,151-hectare Boracay. It receives some 18,000 tourists and 26,000 workers daily.
In 2017, the Department of Tourisam said Boracay was visited by some 2.1 million tourists, a 16% increase from the 1.7 million visitors it received in 2016.
And since most residents and workers
Rely on Boracay’s tourism economy, many were displaced by the closure, with some settling for the P323-per-day job offered by the government.
Meanwhile, the government has started ordering hundreds of families living on a wetland in Boracay for at least two decades to leave their homes to give way to rehabilitation efforts.
One such area is Cagban Bubon, home to hundreds of families, which was identified by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources as a wetland, which is important in preventing floods.
Cagban Bubon residents have already been given notices to vacate their homes or they will be forced out of their homes.
The residents are now appealing to government to find a resettlement area for them, preferably in Caticlan so they can still resume their livelihood.
The residents said they were not properly informed about the wetland and its purpose, and added that it as their forefathers who told them they can put up their homes in Cagban Bubon.
Sixteen forest lands and nine wetlands dot the Boracay islands, but most of these areas have already been occupied by either business establishments or illegal settlers.
Meanwhile, the Department of Public Works and Highways continues to demolish establishments along the main road of Boracay, removing trees and other obstructions to to give way to the road-widening project.