Changing Bantayan’s status not Senate’s priority

Villar

BUSINESSES and lot owners in Bantayan Island will have to wait a little more before getting titles for their properties.

A plan to lift the status of the island from a wilderness and protected area into an alienable and disposable land through legislation is apparently not among the Senate’s top priorities.

During the Bantayan Island Stakeholders Forum yesterday, Senator Cynthia Villar, chair of the Senate committee on environment and natural resources, said that they will be holding a committee hearing on the proposed bill when Congress goes on break next week.

“Actually, this is the first time I’m hearing such a case (reverting a protected area).

In fact, the greatest accomplishment namin sa committee is we declared 94 areas in the Philippines as additional protected areas,” she said.

According to Villar, she was not aware of such a request by the stakeholders and was expecting only a tourism-related event.

Nonetheless, she assured that the proposal will be taken up by the committee but it may not be done within the year as the Senate’s priority, she said, is the approval of the proposed national budget.

It also does not help that by October 11, Congress will be on break for the filing of certificates of candidacy (COCs) for the 2019 midterm elections.

By December, the Congress will have another break for Christmas.

Villar admitted that she will also have to talk with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on the legality behind lifting the protected area status of Bantayan.

“But I will try my best. If I’m not able to finish it this Congress, there is another Congress. I hope we can finish it this Congress. If not, we’ll try in the next Congress,” she said.

Under Presidential Decree 2151 signed by former President Ferdinand Marcos in 1981, Bantayan Island is among several areas in the country declared as wilderness areas. This means the entire island cannot be owned and titled under a person or entity.

Engr. Nelson Yuvallos, president of the Sta. Fe. Tourism Enterprises Association (SAFETEA), said businesses in the three towns in the island have been clamoring for the lifting of the island’s status.

“Thirty-seven years had passed, and until today, kita tanan (all of us), we still don’t have the title of our own properties,” Yuvallos said.

“Ang mga yuta gilunaan sa atong negosyo (The lots where our businesses stand) is not or cannot even be considered as ours. It is still government property. Ang kita nga tag-iya sa mga negosyo nga gitukod (We, who own the businesses) are only caretakers as of today,” he added.

It was in 2014 when Cebu 4th District Rep. Benhur Salimbangon first filed a bill in Congress to change the island’s status. But the Senate version was not approved as there was no General Management Plan (GMP) for the island.

In 2015, the DENR formed a technical working group to craft the GMP which was approved by then Environment Secretary Gina Lopez in 2016.

Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino is also for the lifting of Bantayan’s status, saying there are no more wildlife on the island that need to be protected anyway.

“Ang mga buwaya ug halas, tua naman didto sa City Hall sa Cebu (The crocodiles and snakes are already there in the City Hall in Cebu),” he added.

Yesterday’s stakeholders forum at the Bantayan multi-purpose center was attended by local business owners, officials of SAFETEA, the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Bantayan Island Chapter, the Bantayan Layers and Hog Raisers Association, as well as residents of Sta. Fe, Bantayan, and Madridejos.

Other officials who were present were Bantayan Mayor Ian Christopher Escario, Sta. Fe Mayor Jose Esgana, Salimbangon, DENR-7 Regional Director Gilbert Gonzales, and Cebu 3rd District Rep. Gwen Garcia.

In a separate speech, Salimbangon pushed for the candidacy of Garcia for Cebu governor in next year’s elections.

He said the PDP-Laban party had successfully convinced Garcia to run for governor under the party.

Garcia confirmed that she is indeed running for governor but refused to name her running mate.