The Senate environment committee that is currently hearing the cases of illegal resorts and structures in both Mt. Apo National Park in Davao and the Chocolate Hills in Bohol, pointed out the importance of observing the laws and statutes not just for the present needs but to ensure the benefit of future generations and the sustainability of nature.
This, as Bohol Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado appealed for the reopening of the controversial Captain’s Peak Resort within the Chocolate Hills Garden and Resort, a protected park, for the sake of the livelihood of his citizens.
“The closure of resorts, while a victory for environmentalists, also casts a shadow on the livelihood of those employed there and the economic aspirations of the local community,” the governor said.
“This is a brutal reminder that every environmental decision is also a social one, affecting real people with real needs,” he added.
He was referring to the closure order issued against Captain’s Peak Resort in Sagbayan, Bohol, a swimming resort built at the foothills of Chocolate Hills despite its protected area status, as declared by the late former president Fidel V. Ramos.
Aumentado attended the Senate joint hearing of the committees of environment and local government on the illegal construction of resorts and structures at Mt. Apo Natural Park in Mindanao and Chocolate Hills Natural Monument in Bohol, which are legislated protected areas.
If the policy on protected areas will be for absolute prohibition of structures on protected areas at the expense of local tourism, “private owners” in the area should be compensated as they could no longer “benefit from their land,” Aumentado said referring to titled owners of land in a protected area.
But why in the first place were they allowed to construct in the protected areas? Did the LGU not know of its protected status?
The Land Registration Authority earlier said there are 5,652 titled properties spanning 7,860 hectares at the Chocolate Hills.
“Before this area was declared a protected site, there were communities and farmland already. These are places where they were born. These are their homes going back several generations,” Aumentado said. (For those that have been living in the area prior to its declaration as a protected park, so long as they do not expand their area or put up resorts, then that is justified, but nothing more.)
“If development is allowed, guidelines should have no room for ambiguity,” especially on the roles of Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) members who are tasked to safeguard these sites.
“The challenge is to protect the environment while nurturing the social fabric of our societies,” the Star quoted him saying.
Weak links
Billionaire environment committee chair Sen. Cynthia Villar did not agree with Aumentado’s statement, as she expounded on the confusion over LGUs prioritizing development over environmental protection.
She recalled that Aumentado, as then Bohol congressman, pitched Chocolate Hills to be among legislated protected areas enshrined in the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas Systems (Expanded NIPAS) law when it was passed by Congress.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) should have protected the Chocolate Hills as it is responsible for issuing environmental compliance certificates (ECC), she noted.
She said the DENR regional offices seem to be one of the weak links in protection mechanisms being remiss in their duty to preserve protected areas, she said.
Sen. Nancy Binay, chair of the tourism committee, said the local government cannot feign ignorance on the need to preserve Bohol as a protected area after undergoing the process of being declared a UNESCO Global Geopark. Bohol is the only Philippine tourism area to secure the coveted title.
Environmental watchdog, Tagbilaran Baywatch, cited the “mother of all resolutions” issued by the DENR that paved the way for the construction of a controversial resort and other illegal structures at the Chocolate Hills Natural Monument (CHNM) in Bohol. Lawyer Gertrude Biliran, spokesperson for Tagbilaran Watch, said the DENR-PAMB Resolution No. 5 approves the rules and regulations on ecotourism development and management within the natural/cultural heritage of the CHNM.
Approved on May 4, 2012, the said resolution was certified by a certain Marcial Ugay and signed by presiding officer Casimero Aceron and affirmed by DENR-Central Luzon executive director and PAMB chairman Maximo Dichoso.
The Tagbilaran Baywatch alleged that the resolution “illegally provides a maximum of three structures within the 20-percent portion of the hill from the baseline, provided the design and color should blend with the general landscape.”
The 20-percent use from the baseline of the hill, as in the case of the controversial Captain’s Peak Resort in Sagbayan town, was provided under PAMB’s Resolutions 01 and 08 signed in 2018 and 2022, respectively.
The provisions of these resolutions contradicted Proclamation 1037 of the late President Fidel Ramos.
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