An aerial view of Boracay during the inspection conducted by DOT Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo and DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu. DOT photo
ILOILO CITY — The government is still seeking the cancellation of land titles issued illegally by personnel of the Department of Environment and Natural Resource (DENR) on Boracay Island seven years ago.
The case against eight DENR personnel in Western Visayas found guilty of administrative liabilities for the issuance of the land titles has not been resolved with finality even as the agency is cracking down on environmental violators in Boracay.
The DENR central office has filed complaints for the cancellation of titles and reversion against 18 title holders for 21 homestead patents covering 70,573 square meters or 7.05 hectares.
The Office of the Solicitor General representing the DENR filed the complaints involving seven of the homestead patents in courts in the capital town of Kalibo in Aklan, according to documents from the DENR Western Visayas office.
The homestead patents were issued to lots ranging from 58 square meters to 14,748 sqm located in Barangays Balabag and Manoc-Manoc, two of Boracay’s three villages.
The complaints involved homestead patents issued to Ramon Cojuangco Jr., Luna Villaruz, Alicia Sacapano, Juvy Gross, Dolores Latoy, Andro Gabay, Haide de los Santos, Araceli Gabay, Geovanni Pascual, Nelly Mancera, Jean Castillo, Dolores Sacapano, Rosemarie Bettschen, Nora Castillo, Jocelyn Sualog, Naomi Sastre, Belinda Martinez and Amalia Solis.
The case stemmed from the issuance of the patents to property occupants from November 2009 to December 2010.