The Boracay Chamber of Commerce and Industry has maintained its support to the government move to require residents and resort owners of the island-resort to secure titles for their properties.

"We're supporting the government stand on land titling-issue because we know it's good for us," BCCI president Charles Uy said during his recent visit to Bacolod City.

Uy told the DAILY STAR the BCCI position on the land titling issue is based on a thorough research, which shows that resort owners will benefit from such move.

"We're working closely with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (on this)," he said. DENR Undersecretary for Land Management Manuel Gerochi had earlier said that occupants of prized lots will have priority rights in the bidding and selling of commercial and residential lots on the island.

Uy, is the president of Patio Pacific Boracay, a Triple A resort. He said that being able to obtain titles for their properties will be beneficial for resort owners like him.

Unlike the BCCI though, the Boracay Foundation Inc., a group of resort owners, hotels and restaurants on the island led by chairman Orlando Sacay, had expressed opposition to the land-titling through public auction, claiming they would have to bid for the properties that they have developed for many years.

The group instead prefers that prized lots be titled through judicial recognition.

Beach front properties have been pegged from P25,000 to P30,000 per square meter. The land titling is mandated under a proclamation issued by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in May last year that declared more than half of Boracay Island as "alienable and disposable."

Before its issuance, private ownership of lots in Boracay was technically illegal under Proclamation 1801 issued by the late President Ferdinand Marcos on Nov. 10, 1978. Landowners and operators of various establishments in the island do not have titles to the properties they occupy, only tax declarations, some covered for more than 30 years.*NLG

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