By JONAS REYES

SAN FELIPE, Zambales — The local government of San Felipe and the Provincial Government of Zambales, with the assistance of the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) Olongapo, are now undertaking a special project to delineate and reclassify unclassified public land in coastal areas here.

The project, which seeks to convert certain areas at the popular beach resort belt into Alienable and Disposable (A&D) status, was met with support from the El Zamba community of local resorts, as it paves the way for eventual land awards.

According to the El Zamba Villas, the said effort “is specifically designed to significantly boost the tourism program in San Felipe, Zambales, which has more than 400 out of 900 resort operators in Zambales.”

The LGU-DENR delineation program is expected to resolve critical land issues in the area, including illegal claims and other disputes arising from claims of ownership based on illegal tax declarations.

It will also address and resolve the issue of illegal structures built within danger zones. Owners of structures encroaching on the danger zones have already received official notices of violation from the DENR, it was learned.

“By resolving these long-standing issues, the delineation program will finally pave the way for a more robust and organized tourism program in San Felipe, Zambales,” El Zamba Villas also said.

The delineation and reclassification of unclassified public land to A&D status involves the formal identification of metes of public land and determining parcels suitable for conversion so that they can be legally owned by private citizens or entities.

This administrative procedure requires a positive act from the government to convert land from inalienable to alienable status and make land available for productive use, such as housing, agriculture, or tourism. Long-term occupation alone would not be sufficient to merit ownership.

The government has previously declared as “danger zones” some coastal areas in San Felipe that are vulnerable to flooding and erosion, as well as riverbanks and slopes susceptible to landslides. (30) Specific areas like Sitio Tektek and Sitio Laoag have been identified as having moderate vulnerability to coastal hazards. 