BATUAN town Mayor Atty. Mawell Tumanda said that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) assured not to take drastic measures, just yet, against the establishment owners who don’t have Environmental Clearance Certificate (ECC) after they received notice of violations from the DENR.
“Sa atong pagpasabot sa sitwasyon nagahatag sila sa assurance nga walay order for closure, dismantling or kung unsa pa nga drastic measures mahitabo ug ilang paga sundan usa ang pag review, Pag imbestiga ug pag case buildup,” the mayor, who met with NBI bigwigs in Manila last week, said.
(They (NBI) assured us there’ll be no drastic measures, like closure against the establishments, but it will conduct review and probe for case build-up after explaining to the real score).
The mayor pins hope that the NBI statement would give the affected Batuan business owners ample time to make the required documents , like the ECC, to comply and process.
“Kini atong i-coordinate ug maayo with the Provincial Government pinanguluhan ni Gov. Aris Aumentado, ang atong DENR Provincial and Regional Offices, ang atong mga LGUs headed by our respective Mayors ug uban pa.”
(This we will coordinate with the provincial government and other agencies, like the DENR and other affected local government units).
The report of closure disowned by DENR worries Batuan business owners and residents alike as the entire town territorial asset is practically under the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas Systems (E-NIPAS) Act. This after they received the Notice of Violations from the DENR.
The DENR thru its Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) has issued a total 434 Notice Of Violations (NOVs) in both Alienable and Disposable and timberlands. The town of Carmen has been issued 76 NOVs and 21 PAMB clearance; Batuan, 100 NOVs and 8 PAMB clearance; Bilar, 70 NOVs and one PAMB clearance; and Sagbayan, 188 NOVs and 14 PAMB clearance.
But Carmen municipal administrator Atty. Eliezer Cagol said that there are more NOVs issued to affected Carmen residents than the list of the DENR.
ABSTENTION
Meanwhile, the members of the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) belonging to Bilar and Sagbayan towns have refrained from favouring repair of the ‘quake-hit access road leading to the Chocolate Hills complex in barangay Buenos Aires, Carmen town.
But still the body got the majority in voting in favor for the said repair during the special meeting of the board on Wednesday (October 22) at the Ceremonial Hall, New Capitol, Tagbilaran City.
It was not clear what made them abstained from voting for the said repair. Reliable sources said that the members abstained from aforementioned towns just tried to avoid being sued again after most of them were earlier preventively dismissed for months without pay by the Ombudsman in connection with the anomaly of the Captain’s Peak Resort in Sagbayan.
The approved law governing the CHNM is the Republic Act No. 11038 or An Act Declaring Protected Areas and Providing for Their Management, Amending for This Purpose Republic Act No. 7586, Otherwise Known as the “National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act of 1992” and for Other Purposes governs the CHNM, whose number of conical or dome-shaped like mounds are increased to 1,776 from 1,265 hills.
PAMB approved the definition of a hill considered to be a Chocolate Hill as “a karst geological formation with a conical to dome-shaped landforms characterized by rolling to very steep terrain, with an elliptical or circular base, either isolated or subtly interconnected with adjacent similar formations, predominantly covered with grasses/shrubs exhibiting seasonal color transition from green to brown and remaining largely unaltered from mid-slope to summit.” (Ric Obedencio)
