LINGAYEN— Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer Leduina Co has directed thru a memorandum the officer-in-charge of the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office in Dagupan City to “refrain from giving/issuing A or D (Alienable or Disposable) certifications to individuals applying for foreshore lease agreement within the Lingayen shoreline. “.

The PENRO took the move in response to a letter of Mayor Ernesto ‘Jonas” Castaneda of this Capital town in July last year addressed to then Environment and Natural Resources Sceretary Angelo Reyes and reporting the illegal occupancy of beach lots by different persons.

Castaneda said the municipal government is itself applying for FLA rights over the entire area of the beach for eco-tourism purposes.

Castaneda, in an interview with media last week, said he and officials of the provincial government as well as the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office are now meeting regularly to draw up a management plan for eco-tourism projects to be put up in the beach.

Co ordered the CENRO to wait until such time that the eco-tourism area of the municipality and the province is delineated before acting on any FLA applications in the Lingayen beach area especially in issuing certifications for alienable and disposable areas.

Such certification is being construed by the applicants as proof of their ownership of the land.

Co said this is not so as the application will yet go through long and tedious processes that will reach up to the DENR central office in Manila.
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The PENRO, in a separate interview, maintained that it has not processed a single application for FLA from any individual, except for the miscellaneous lease application of the Dagupan City government over public lands in Bonuan Binloc.

A similar issue on the illegal occupancy of beach lots is obtaining in Dagupan City particularly along the Tondaligan beach area.

The procedure, Co added, is for the CENRO to prepare the papers, including all the needed attachments of qualified applicants, before these are the submitted to the PENRO for screening and processing.

If the papers are in order, it is endorsed to the regional office for another screening before finally being endorsed to the DENR central office for the issuance of the FLA.

Only the Secretary of the DENR can approve foreshore lease permits, Co explained.

One of those who have reportedly occupied 28 hectares of foreshore area is Lingayen Councilor Ramon Bataoil, younger brother of Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil, former Ilocos police director.

Co said that based on their records, the younger Bataoil has not filed any application for FLA before the DENR, first through CENRO.

Co considers as illegal the occupation of 28-hectare foreshore land in Malimpuec, Lingayen by Bataoil because he has not even filed any application for FLA with DENR.

Bataoil, for his part, said even before he became a municipal councilor, he had already been occupying and developing the area. He said he would readily give it up if the area is eventually found to be within the coverage of a proclamation issued in 1994 by then President Fidel V. Ramos.