Police deploy more cops to Sicogon after takeover try

By Jennifer P. Rendon

The Iloilo Police Provincial Office has deployed more uniformed personnel to Sicogon Island in Carles, Iloilo, following a violent attempt to take over one of the island’s facilities.

Col. Bayani Razalan, Iloilo police chief, said a team from the 2nd Iloilo Provincial Mobile Force Company was sent to Sicogon Island to augment the four police personnel already stationed in the area.

Razalan made the decision despite saying the situation on the island was normal and that tension had already been defused.

Razalan also asked the Police Regional Office 6 to deploy additional personnel from the Regional Mobile Force Battalion 6.

Over the weekend, police filed a string of criminal charges against businessman Alfredo Luis “Dave” Sarrosa, 60, a central figure in the long-running dispute over the development of Sicogon Island, and four other men.

Brig. Gen. Randulf Tuaño, Western Visayas police chief, said the cases include illegal detention, robbery, robbery with violence, carnapping, illegal discharge of firearms, and attempted arson.

Sarrosa may also be charged with illegal possession of a firearm.

Tuaño said three guns were licensed to Sarrosa, but all the licenses had expired.

Sarrosa is connected to Sicogon Development Corp., or SIDECO, the family-controlled company that owns much of the island and holds the joint venture behind its tourism estate.

Razalan said Sarrosa had yet to post bail as the prosecutor’s office was still determining the gravity of the cases filed against him.

Maj. Karl Jerome Tingala, Carles police chief, earlier said the incident was initially reported as a hostage-taking, but investigators deemed it a case of serious illegal detention.

Tingala clarified that the 11 employees of Sicogon Island Tourism Estate Corp., or SITEC, were not formally taken hostage.

Authorities said they received a report around 3:50 p.m. Thursday from ACCRALAW, the legal counsel of Ayala Land Inc., warning of armed men firing at the Huni resort.

Sarrosa allegedly fired at least four times at the Huni Resort and Jetty Port in Barangay San Fernando, with initial reports indicating that he intended to seize the resort’s operations from SITEC.

Before his arrest, a video circulated online showing a heavily armed Sarrosa at the resort accusing Ayala Land of “land grabbing” amid the decadeslong ownership dispute.

The standoff was the latest flare-up in a yearslong conflict over the 810-hectare tourism development on Sicogon Island in northern Iloilo.

Sicogon Island, located in Carles town, has long been promoted as a tourism destination near the Gigantes group of islands, while its redevelopment has also faced opposition from residents over land, housing, and livelihood concerns.

SIDECO, owned by the Sarrosa and Marañon families of Negros Occidental, was the island’s original landholding entity, and Sarrosa holds a stake in the company through Coral Holdings Inc.

In 2010, SIDECO and Ayala Land signed a joint venture agreement that created SITEC, with redevelopment gaining momentum after Super Typhoon Yolanda devastated the island in 2013.

The venture called for the construction of the Huni Hotel, the 50-villa Balay Kogon resort, and an airport, alongside housing, livelihood programs, agricultural land distribution, and resettlement for residents organized under the Federation of Sicogon Island Farmers and Fisherfolk Association.

Residents have long accused the developers of seizing agrarian reform land, displacing families, and stripping them of traditional livelihoods.