Two formal complaints reaching the Office of the President through the Philippine Reclamation Authority seek an investigation into alleged unauthorized reclamation and construction undertaken by Maison Bukana Resort along Secret Beach and the Malinao River in General Luna, Siargao Island.
The complaints-filed separately by a local barangay official and resident-cite violations of the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Water Code.
Both letters include municipal soil-test results indicating that the area now occupied by the resort in Malinao consists of man-placed fill, inconsistent with natural coastal soil.
Soil test shows artificially reclaimed land
A separate set of tests by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) provides technical backing for those concerns. Engineers took samples from several points along the Malinao shoreline and found layers made up of a mixture of coarse sand, gravel, and clay material-an irregular pattern typical of man-placed fill rather than natural beach soil.
In plain terms, the ground beneath parts of the property appears to have been built up with construction material, not formed by the natural and gradual action of tides and sediment.
DPWH classified the samples under engineering categories that usually describe reclaimed or compacted land, supporting the view that the area had been artificially altered. Those findings echo what local officials had been flagging for years.
Questionable embankment, public access restricted
This is not the first time formal concerns have been raised over this property.
In 2022 and again in early 2024, two local councils formally raised concern over shoreline works in Barangay Malinao.
The Sangguniang Bayan of General Luna, through Resolution No. 0410-22, directed Maison Bukana, which operates beside Secret Beach, to remove any structures built within the legally protected easement and to keep the area open for public access.
Two years later, the Barangay Malinao Council adopted Resolution No. 10, s. 2024, expressly condemning what it described as ‘illegal reclamation and embankment’ along Secret Beach and ‘illegal construction’ in the nearby Malinao River.
Both measures were transmitted to higher agencies, effectively documenting the local government’s official position that the development encroached on public coastal space.
Siargao Island as a protected landscape
Under Philippine environmental law, the island’s coastline falls within a national protected seascape. Any coastal alteration would require prior clearance from the Protected Area Management Board and an Environmental Compliance Certificate.
Reclamation activities also fall under the exclusive authority of the Philippine Reclamation Authority.
Google Earth Pro imagery shows the shoreline of the site extending farther seaward than in 2019 baseline maps used by the barangay. Local officials have furnished these images to national agencies as part of their request for investigation.
Both complainants said their filings were made ‘in good faith . to uphold the integrity of the Siargao Island Protected Landscape and Seascape.’ They asked the national government to order site rehabilitation should violations are confirmed.