ILOILO CITY – Environment Secretary Lito Atienza yesterday said they will investigate how claimants of properties on Boracay Island considered as wetlands were able to secure tax declarations as proof of ownership.

“We are definitely looking into how they were able to declare tax payments on the area when these are part of marshlands,” Atienza said in a telephone interview.

Atienza last week directed the Department of Environment and Natural Resources regional office to cancel the tax declarations of claimants of two properties classified as wetlands on the 1,000-hectare island-resort.

He identified one of them as the Boracay Crown Regency Hotels and Convention Center, owned by J. King & Sons Co., Inc., which is developing a property in Barangay Balabag.

The DENR Environmental Management Bureau last week issued a notice of adverse findings against the hotel for undertaking construction work without an environmental compliance certificate.

It was also directed to stop construction because the property has been identified as a wetland.

In an interview earlier, the hotel's lawyer, Deolito Alvarez, denied that the property is on a wetland. He said water was diverted from the wetland across the property.

Clarifying an earlier report that he ordered the cancellation of the tax declarations of the two Boracay properties, Atienza said the DENR will go through the legal process in the cancellation of tax declarations on properties identified as wetlands.

The DENR does not have the authority to cancel tax declarations because these are issued by the provincial government.

Aklan Gov. Carlito Marquez said they have not receive any requests from the DENR on the cancellation of tax declarations but he said they will look into it when an official request is submitted.

Atienza said they are cracking down on reclamation of and illegal structures on wetlands in Boracay because this is one of the main reasons for the worsening flooding on the island especially during continuous rains.

He said wetlands are natural deterrents to flooding because they serve as “storage for surface water.” It also helps tempers wave and coastline erosion, provide habitat to aquatic life and recharge or replenish water supplies.

The DENR has identified 10 areas covering at least 14.59 hectares on the island's three barangays that were formerly wetlands but have been reclaimed.

But a group of business owners on the island said they are opposing the cancellation of tax declarations on properties identified as wetlands.

In a letter to the regional office of the DENR-EMB, the Boracay Foundation Inc. said that while they are supportive of measures to manage and regulation development on identified wetlands and imposition of stiffer penalties on violators, the cancellation of tax declarations should be done only after the Supreme Court has resolved a pending case on titling of properties on the island.

Atienza assured the other claimants that this has no bearing on the land titling case now pending before the Supreme Court.

“This only concerns the two wetlands being investigated by DENR,” Atienza said.*NPB

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