The principal mandate of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is to ensure the preservation and conservation of all natural wonders of the country– protected areas and natural parks.
But in this task, the DENR could be declared a negligent protector of the country’s natural bounty.
Its Protected Areas Management Board (PAMB), particularly, is the major violator and abuser of nature by awarding rights to businesses (big or small) to operate within such protected areas and natural parks– and of course, your guess is right, for a fee or for unlimited and perpetual rights to use such resorts for free.
Barely has the Senate and other probing bodies– executive and legislative– finished their investigations, and here comes another one for their plates–the Victour’s Recreational Hub within the Sta. Fe beach in Alburquerque town, Bohol.
Residents are vigilant and are questioning why the recreational hub, despite not having any environmental compliance certificate (ECC) from DENR has been allowed to operate for the past five months.
The Provincial Board of Bohol is looking at why the resort located in Alburquerque town (part of the Albuquerque-Loay-Loboc Protected Landscape and Seascape (ALLPLS) - a 1,165.51 hectare area that is one of the province’s 17 protected areas under the 1992 National Integrated Protected Area System (NIPAS) - has been operating despite protests raised by residents.
Board member and niece of the sitting Governor Aris Aumentado, Jamie Aumentado Villamor, who chairs the committee on environment and natural protection, led local officials in the ocular inspection of the recreational hub, which opened last October offering outdoor sports like kayaking, firefly watching and whale shark watching for tourists, Inquirer reported.
She said her committee is drafting an ordinance to preserve the Bohol Geopark and the proposals to amend the expanded Nipas law and other existing guidelines.
The ALLPLS has an area of 1,165.51 hectares, which covers the towns of Alburquerque, Loay and Loboc. It is one of the province’s 17 protected areas.
Sta. Fe Beach is a public beach since local residents have enjoyed unrestricted access to the beach for many decades. She noted that the DENR has been collecting an environmental fee of P30 per adult and P15 for students whale shark watching that operates from 5 am to noon. But the DENR has stopped collecting the environment users fee since last week, Inquirer quoted Villamor.
Victor Garay, owner of Victour’s Recreation Hub, said his company was cleared by the Bohol PAMB while the ECC was still pending with DENR. He said upon receiving the stop order from the PENRO on April 8, they immediately removed a movable nipa hut they used as a ticketing office and moved it to a private area outside the protected area.
“We have to comply. Victour’s is not using the protected area anymore,”
Garay told Inquirer and that he set up the business in Albuquerque after he was invited by its mayor, Ritchie Buates, to invest in the town.
Alburquerque, a fifth-class municipality with 11 barangays, all receive shares from the income of his business that employs 200 residents of Alburquerque, Garay said.
He said his business also employs 200 people, all residents of Alburquerque. He said his resort is not the only one within Sta. Fe Beach Resort that is violating environmental laws.
#WeTakeAStand #OpinYon #DENR #PAMB #ALLPLS