Probe on Boracay real estate ‘anomalies’ urged

Businessman Crisostomo Aquino urged the national government to investigate the alleged illegal sale of real estate properties in this island resort.

“It has been decided by the Supreme Court that Boracay is owned by the state,” Aquino said during the weekly Fernandina Forum held at the Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan, Metro Manila, recently.

“Yet I wonder why [the sale] of real estate properties is rampant among foreign buyers,” the businessman said.

Aquino revealed that transactions would involve parcels of Boracay properties that cost around P85,000 each.

“We wonder why it is easy for foreigners to buy lots in Boracay while Filipino businessmen are being harassed despite [that] we pay the right taxes,” he said.

Several foreigners also continue to “hire” Filipino counterparts to establish dummy corporations, Aquino disclosed.

Some of them had to marry a Filipina to establish an investment, he said.

“How come foreigners are able to get a tax declaration [for] timberland areas and, at the same time, easily acquire local permits?” Aquino asked./