THREE Boholano legislators in the House of Representatives (HoR), along with a Palawan solon, have joined forces in filing a bill to tinker the existing law governing the establishment, operations, and protection of the world-renowned Chocolate Hills spread in at least five towns in Bohol.
Representative Edgar M. Chatto, Maria Vanessa C. Aumentado and Kristine Alexie B. Tutor of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd districts of Bohol, respectively, and Palawan 2nd district Rep. Jose Alvarez filed House Bill No. 10438, to this effect.
The said bill is titled, “An Act Establishing the Coverage of the Chocolate Hills Natural Monument (CHNM), amending the Composition of the CHNM Protected Area Management Board, Appropriating Funds Therefore, And for other related purposes in Relation to RA 11038 of the Expanded National Integrated Protected Area Systems (E-NIPAS), as amended.”
The move (filing of the house bill) was prompted following the controversy in the construction and operations without necessary documents of the Captain’s Peak resort in Sagbayan town. The said resort was constructed and operated with a swimming pool with water slides and cottages that carved the sides at the feet of the chocolate hills.
In its explanatory note, Congresswoman Tutor said the proposed bill delved on expanding the composition of the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) of the Chocolate Hills.
Aside from the regular members, the four solons agreed such PAMB membership expansion, which includes under the said proposal the Department of Tourism, National Museum, Bohol’s UNESCO’s technical committee, representatives from religious sector, environmental planners and architects based in the province.
It also includes the representatives of the Senate and the HoR as ex-officio members without the right to vote but may exercise oversight functions in PAMB’s plans and program implementation.
The proposed House bill recognizes the rights of the lot owner situated within the protected area but “no expansion will be conducted and the owner is listed as tenured migrant.”
The bill, however, allows owners of titled lots to reap plants trees, fruit trees and other agricultural crops and engage into small-scale livelihood projects.
Earlier, Gov. Aris Aumentado said he is of the opinion for the review and cancellation of lands title that covers the chocolate hills. He explained that only low-lying lands, not the mounds considered as chocolate hills, should be titled.
The Chocolate Hills has been expanded from just three towns — Carmen, Batuan and Sagbayan, of some 1,267 hills to the adjacent towns of Valencia and Sierra-Bullones with a total count of 1,776 hills.
If approved by both the Senate and HoR, the said proposed bill would amend the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) law and the expanded NIPAS Act that govern the Chocolate Hills, one of the important features of Bohol’s designation as the only global geopark in the country after the UNESCO designated it in May 24, 2023.
Meanwhile, Batuan town Mayor Atty. Antonino Jumawid, in whose town belongs to the protected area, thanked the solons for the said proposal so that the law must be amended. He described the law as “too sweeping, arbitrary, oppressive and hard to enforce laws.”
“Chocolate Hills must be preserved and protected. But the people’s rights must be respected. It is only when laws are just and reasonable, and well understood and supported by the people, that its enforcement be successful,” the mayor said in his fb post. (Ric Obedencio)
