DAVAO CITY—The provincial environment office of Compostela Valley (ComVal) announced it was opening the resort island of Kopiat off Mabini town to investors as it disclosed that the island is government property.
The Kopiat Island is regularly visited by local and foreign tourists. Philip B. Sayong Jr., the provincial environment officer (Penro), said investors should only go to the provincial office of the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources to apply for rent or lease on portions of the island to operate a resort.
Any application to operate a resort there would fall under the foreshore lease category, Sayong added.
He issued the announcement of opening the island for commercial operation of resorts during a meeting of provincial and municipal information officers of Compostela Valley on May 3 at the Office of the Provincial Governor.
His briefing of the information officers included a report on the forest management and rehabilitation of 2,120 hectares with the planting of various species of agroforestry trees along the southern coasts of the province.
He said the province has also distributed 375 patents on residential lads and another 125 patents on agricultural lands.
The web site of the Province of ComVal said Kopiat is an 87-hectare island “of powdery white sands some 1 kilometer off the Mabini coastline of the province of Compostela Valley on the northernmost tip of Davao Gulf.”
“A nesting site of two of the world’s most endangered marine turtle species—the hawksbill and leatherback—it is one of the staging points of the Kopiat Swimming Challenge of the province’s national award-winning summer beach sports festival,” it added.
“The island is the jewel of the Mabini Protected Seascape and Landscape.”