The coastal right of possession land titling law they finally passed

"Mangrove zones, indigenous and comarca territories, protected areas and any other territory subject to restrictions on private appropriation shall not be the object of titling."

First five hectares of ROP land on island or coastal areas can be titled free; then prices run from $1,000 to $700,000 per hectare

Martinelli's coastal and island titling law passes, with changes
by Eric Jackson

On December 28 the legislature passed, and on December 31 the president signed, Law 80, the replacement for the Torrijos administration's Law 23, on the titling of right-of-possession (ROP) land on islands and in coastal areas. A number of objections raised to earlier drafts were addressed, most of all by publication of a schedule of titling prices that implicitly established that right of possession in certain island zones is recognized and a tacit agreement that the government will decree areas where people have rights of possession in the Bocas and Perlas archipelagos to be "special development zones" where rights of possession and titled private land tenure are constitutionally recognized. Adjustments were made for different tides on Pacific and Atlantic beaches.

The first five hectares of a ROP holding can be titled for free, and the prices for titling larger parcels have been published. These range from $1,000 per hectare over the first five free ones for parcels of under 30 hectares in the Darien between the Gulf of San Miguel and the Colombian border to $700,000 per hectare for parcels of more than 30 hectares in the urban development zone of Isla Colon in Bocas del Toro. The price list will be reviewed and may be revised every three years.

So, will big investors be able to get title to vast tracts of coastal or island land? It depends a lot on what the Martinelli administration is willing to recognize or grant as "right of possession." One has to show that one occupies, either personally or as the product of a genuine purchase or inheritance, state land that has been occupied with animus of ownership and used for "habitational, residential, touristic, agricultural, commercial or productive" purposes, for an uninterrupted period of at least five years.

Theoretically one might claim a large tract of trackless wilderness by claiming to have used it for tourism, but that would have to be proven to the government's satisfaction. However, it would seem that those who have bought land that had been exhausted and overgrazed by the farmers who held right of possession, then replanted these areas for tourism or conservation purposes, would have a better claim. But by and large the major land grabs under a theory of "environmental possession" that were contemplated under Law 23 won't be recognized.

Law 80 still leaves many things to be determined, things like which uninhabited or sparsely populated islands (or parts thereof) will be special development zones, which areas in addition to the comarcas will be designated as indigenous territories, and how much of Panama this administration will retain as protected areas.

Click here to read Law 80 in its Spanish original.

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