One of the best things that former Governor Gwen Garcia did was to fight for the preservation of the remaining beaches in Cebu Province which are free for the public to enjoy.
With Governor Gwen gone, the beach resort owners in Bantayan Island are back to their nefarious acts of appropriating the beaches that conjoins their resorts. There are so many reasons why they should not.
One is that there is still an existing court order which ordered the demolition of the structures that these resort owners were building, and I suppose further prohibiting them from doing any construction on the easement which runs forty (40) meters from the low water mark.
Their acts of building again on the beaches is a clear contempt of that order.
If they want the order changed or revoked, then they should file the necessary pleading before the court instead of just taking the law into their own hands.
Second, is that these resort owners are not even owners of the property that they are using.
If I remember right, the entire Bantayan Island was declared a public land, and therefore inalienable and not disposable. The resort owners are therefore mere stewards of these gifts of nature and they should not be allowed to appropriate them for themselves and for their own personal benefit.
The beautiful beaches of Bantayan Island were given to all of us by nature and the few resort owners who have selfishly grabbed them as their own have committed a great offense against the Cebuano people. If these resort owners are allowed to continue, what happened in Mactan and Moalboal, will happen again to the beaches of Bantayan Island.
Try to go to Mactan and look for any nook or cranny where you can freely enter and enjoy swimming in the fabled waters of the Island. No, you have to pay entrance fees and suffer the ignominy of a crass security guard whose attitude is that everyone who wants to enter his kingdom is going to put one over him by not paying the fee that his resort has imposed, for a
zperson to be able to swim in the sea that in the first place was rightfully given to him by nature.
In 1977, I first experienced Panagsama Beach in Moalboal. It was one of my players who expressed my own feelings, when he said “Sir, if there is a paradise on Earth, this must be it. I wish we can stay here forever.”
Pristine white beaches, a snorkeler’s paradise, and a long stretch of seemingly endless clear water just waiting for the swimmer to enjoy. Just a few years after, the whole family went back to Moalboal, but we were relegated to a far corner because the main beach was already occupied by bars and honky tonks, mostly owned by foreigners.
You can say the same for other traditional swimming sites like Liloan, Danao, Argao, etc. The public has been fenced out and would probably have to rely only of the water coming out of the shower so he can have a bath.
Much worse is that the poor fisherfolks are being deprived of their livelihood.
I do not know if this is happening anywhere else in the Philippines, but these unlawful acts are definitely denying more than a majority of the Cebuanos the enjoyment of these gifts of nature. It is probably too late anymore to reverse things, like instead of watching the sea when you drive along the coastal roads of Cebu, what you see instead are laundry hanging to dry.
We are probably the only country where we allow buildings right inside the easement zone. Can you imagine how beautiful and pleasant it would be to drive around Cebu and have a clear view all the way of the Visayan Sea and the Tañon Strait, because structures are allowed only on one side of the road.
The tragedy of the rest of Cebu can still be prevented in Bantayan Island.
It will however need the joint effort of Governor Jun Davide, the DENR, the Department of Tourism, the environmental advocates, and those of us who will feel deprived once the resorts in Bantayan are able to close off the beaches for their exclusive use and gain.
Please Governor Jun!
I know that you are not averse in continuing the good things that your predecessor did. Do not allow a few greedy persons deny the millions of your constituents to enjoy the gift of nature that God has given to us when he created Bantayan Island.
Promoting tourism is good, but it should never be done at the expense of the people who are the rightful beneficiaries of this God given treasures.