City council probes mangrove land title controversy

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor and Joseph Bernard A. Marzan

The Iloilo City Council will launch an investigation into the alleged anomalous issuance of private land titles covering mangrove areas along the Iloilo Strait, following claims that portions of protected coastal zones were titled as homestead properties.

The inquiry was triggered by a privilege speech delivered by City Councilor Romel Duron on Wednesday, Jan. 14, raising concerns over the titling of at least three homestead patents covering about 50 hectares of coastal land in the barangays of Balabago, Bitoon and Hinactacan.

The council approved Duron’s privileged motion directing the body to conduct an investigation in aid of legislation.

“The Iloilo City coastline, Iloilo Strait, or Iloilo Tigum River is a natural resource, a sovereign public land, beyond the commerce of man,” Duron said.

Duron disclosed that he received a letter dated Nov. 22, 2025, from businessman Eric Limsui and other concerned parties addressed to Mayor Raisa Treñas-Chu regarding the alleged irregularities.

Daily Guardian also obtained copies of the letters cited by Duron in late November.

Limsui sent the letter to the mayor for himself and as attorney-in-fact of Charlie Limsui, Lolita L. Chua, Herbert L. Chua, Nancy Chua-Uy and Susy Chua-Montecillo.

Limsui and the five individuals he represented were interested parties in properties bordering the shoreline, where the city government had previously planted mangroves as part of flood control and coastal protection projects.

The questioned titles reportedly came to light when registered owners sought to establish road right-of-way access from the shoreline to the coastal road.

Attached to the letter were certifications issued by the City Assessor’s Office on Oct. 5, 2025, classifying the subject properties as agricultural land.

Duron noted that the classification was made despite the properties’ location within mangrove and coastal zones where no agricultural activity exists.

The councilor cited two Supreme Court rulings: the 1989 case Director of Forestry vs. Villareal and the 2018 case Republic of the Philippines vs. Heirs of Ignacio Daquer et al.

The 1989 ruling declared mangrove swamps as part of public forest lands that cannot be privately titled unless formally released and reclassified by the director of forest development, now the secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

The 2018 ruling further held that public lands subject to homestead patent applications “has to be classified first as alienable and disposable through a positive act of government.”

“This act must be direct and express, not merely inferred from an instrument such as the homestead patent,” the 2018 decision stated.

Under the resolution, the city government will form an investigating team composed of technical personnel, with the DENR invited to participate through its legal officers and surveyors.

The team will conduct ground verification and relocation surveys to determine whether the titled properties fall within mangrove and forest lands along the Iloilo Strait.

Duron said the findings could lead to the initiation of cancellation proceedings and the possible reversion of the lands to the public domain if irregularities are established.

In December last year, Iloilo City Lone District Rep. Julienne Baronda also called for an immediate investigation into the issuance of the titles in a privilege speech at the House of Representatives.

Baronda urged scrutiny of the DENR, the Registry of Deeds and other concerned offices, and sought a moratorium on all private activities in the contested areas, as well as a citywide audit of titled properties along the Iloilo Strait.

Daily Guardian also sent a letter dated Nov. 25, 2025, to DENR Secretary Raphael Perpetuo Lotilla regarding the controversial land titles, which his office received on Nov. 27.

The letter requested certified true copies of the homestead patents cited in Limsui’s correspondence, as well as express declarations classifying the mangrove lands as alienable and disposable.

The matter was referred the same day to the office of Undersecretary Ernesto Adobo Jr., undersecretary for legal and administration and supervising undersecretary for the Land Management Bureau.

The undersecretary’s office later referred the issue to the DENR Region 6 office, which Daily Guardian contacted Wednesday to formally follow up on the status of the requests.

As of this writing, the regional office has yet to respond to both the initial request and the follow-up.