The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By Rose de la Cruz
It took House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez to involve a full-blown House probe into the illegal operation of a resort inside the Chocolate Hills protected park that was supposed to host this year a swimming competition by the local government of Bohol, despite a closure order slapped by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
The Captains Peak Garden and Resort, which garnered an outcry from netizens on Facebook with the posting of its photo recently will be investigated beginning next week by the House on orders of Romualdez. The order to begin the probe was announced by Rep. Erwin Tulfo (ACT-CIS partylist) during a press conference.
“We are set to file on Monday an inquiry, moto propio, regarding that matter. Hindi rin po nagustuhan ng House leadership po iyon. I’ve been communicating with the Speaker…napag-uusapan po at nasabi ko na po sa kanya, magpa-file po tayo ng inquiry regarding this matter,” GMA News quoted him saying.
The lawmaker likened the controversial Captain’s Peak Resort in Sagbayan town to a “kulugo” or wart.
Tulfo said even if the manager of the place says on social media that they did not build on the hills, the mere presence of the construction is unacceptable because they ruined the view.
The upcoming House inquiry comes after social media users expressed dismay over the construction of the resort in the middle of Bohol’s protected geological formation.
Captain’s Peak Resort manager Julieta Sablas on Wednesday said that they had been allowed to operate at the foot of the Chocolate Hills even without an environmental compliance certificate or ECC.
The resort inside the Chocolate Hills – situated in the municipalities of Sagbayan, Batuan, Carmen, Bilar, Sierra Bullones and Valencia – was declared a protected area in o1997 by the late President Fidel V. Ramos. As such the government could impose certain restrictions or regulations on land use and development, even if portions of land are privately-titled.
The DENR explained that such restrictions shall be detailed in the environmental impact statement prior to the issuance of an environmental compliance certificate, which the resort said it did not have.
Social media news platform, Rappler, said the UNESCO even declared the town of Sagbayan as among the locations of Chocolate Hills.
Senator Nancy Binay, chair of the committee on tourism, said the Protected Areas Management Board of DENR approved the development proposal and issued a resolution endorsing its construction within the Chocolate Hills protected zone in the past two years.
“We want the DENR-PAMB, Bohol Environment Management Office, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office and the local government units to explain why e ven with Chocolate Hills’ protected status, construction permits continue to be granted,” she said.
Resort manager Julieta Sablas said her brother, Edgar Button, a seaman, bought the 5-hectare property in 2005 (way after the 1997 declaration of protected status of Chocolate Hills by Ramos) before starting development in 2018.
About 2 hectares of the lot were made into a resort with a swimming pool and cottages as she asserted they did not touch the hills and that measurement of the plain is within the regulation.
Tulfo said Congress will investigate who authorized the construction of the resort, which needed permits from LGUs and the national government. He said many officials could be accountable.
The DENR issued a closure order on the resort but Sablas said they are appealing the order.
Sablas further claimed they were issued the necessary government permits for the construction of their resort and that they are aware that the Chocolate Hills is a protected area.
Tulfo pointed out that the land where the resort is located should not have been issued a title because the area was declared a heritage site.
Sagbayan information officer Felito Pon, on Thursday, said the town has revoked the business permit of the Captain’s Peak Resort. (But why was it given one in the first place?)
We will serve it today to cease and desist all its operations and ongoing constructions,” Pon said.
The Gabriela party-list filed a resolution stating that “clearly the DENR failed to ensure that the resort complied with the closure order issued last September 2023. It is important to scrutinize how such construction was permitted in an area which is supposedly safeguarded by environmental regulations,” Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas said.
Sen. Nancy Binay, head of the Senate Committees on Tourism and Cultural Communities, filed a separate resolution to direct the proper panels to look into the resort’s construction.
Bohol Governor Aris Aumentado meanwhile slammed the DENR for allegedly failing to take immediate action on the issue.
Aumentado said that they waited for over six months for DENR to take action after their investigation but they did not receive anything from them.