A bill declaring more than half of Boracay Island, the country’s premier tourist destination, as agricultural land and open for disposition has unsettled a group of resort and landowners who vowed to stage protest actions against the measure.

House Bill 1109, which was authored by Aklan Rep. Florencio Miraflores, aims to declare 626.59 hectares of the 1,032-hectare island as public domain.

It was passed by the House of Representatives on April 29 and transmitted to the Senate.

In a manifesto, the resort owners denounced HB 1109 as “unconstitutional because it deprives private owners of the land of their vested right.”

Orlando Sacay, a resort owner, said the bill will open their lands to acquisition by other investors and subject to disposition under provisions of the Commonwealth Act No. 141 or the Public Land Act of 1936. That law prescribes public bidding to acquire lots declared public domain.

But Miraflores, whose family also owns parcels on land in Boracay, said the fears of the landowners were misplaced.

“The bill is not confiscatory. It actually protects the rights of property owners,” he told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

Miraflores cited a provision in the bill that would allow occupants to be issued free patents if they had been continuously staying on their lots for at least 30 years. He said most of the lots on the island have been occupied even before World War II.

The patent is limited to a maximum of 12 hectares per applicant though. Also, the bill would declare lots reserved for easements, wetlands and forest lands as protected areas, not alienable and disposable.

“This is part of our efforts to regulate over-development on the island. We have to sacrifice,” said Miraflores.

The property owners said they were not consulted about HB 1109. If approved, they said they could lose their properties and millions of pesos in investments.

Lara Salaver, a lot occupant, said around 2,000 signatures of resort owners, residents and other stakeholders had been gathered in support of the manifesto. A rally has also been scheduled for Friday at the public plaza of Barangay Balabag.

Private ownership of lots in Boracay was technically illegal under Proclamation No. 1801 issued by then President Ferdinand Marcos on Nov. 10, 1978.

The proclamation declared Boracay as a tourist and marine zone and categorized the whole of it as a public land. However,

President Macapagal-Arroyo issued Proclamation 1064 on May 22, 2006, classifying 628.96 hectares or 60.94 percent of the island as alienable and disposable.