Thesis (BS Architecture) -- University of the Philippines Mindanao, 2008

People like beaches: their desire for property along this sensitive fringe of land is great. In their efforts to maintain their homes and their beaches, people change beaches, and one way in which they do is by considering seawalls and other structures such as property barriers. Public conflicts arise, especially relating to access to beaches, as more and more of the coastal lands are being taken up by private owners who want to have total exclusive of their ownership. To preserve the privacy owners fence off the entire area owned and prohibit the local islanders from crossing the beachfronts to get to the sea. Often, the social and economic conditions of the community involved are neglected in the process of coastal development. Therefore, the objective of this study is to know the impacts of beachfront property barriers to the coastal habitat, livelihood and recreational activities of the community along the Samal coastline. Community along the coastline of Catagman was surveyed using two questionnaires, perceptive and quantitative. Based on hierarchical cluster analysis 5 groups of stakeholders were identified. It was found out that majority of the population in the study area belongs to group 3 which were mostly fishermen and others whose means of living depend on the sea. Therefore the needs of these group should be prioritized. A concept of ?Borderless Beachfront Development? was applied to cater the needs of the group. Six (6) adjacent beachfront lots of different owners were developed. They were taken as one big development but maintaining each others territory was taken into consideration.