GOV. Aris Aumentado ordered the investigation of the defacement of some Chocolate Hills in barangay Canmano, Sagbayan town.
The said probe was an offshoot to The Freeman’s published report on August 14,2023 entitled: “Defacing a national treasure: resort, other projects ruining Chocolate Hills,”
The governor said that he directed the Bohol Environment and Management Office (BEMO) and the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources of the province and the regional office to investigate.
The Sangguniang Panlalawigan, at the same time, is set to conduct an investigation in aid of legislation into the alleged destruction of some of Chocolate Hills in said place, provincial board member Nathaniel O. Binlod said in his privilege speech during the session on Tuesday.
He said that there’s a need to look into the report so as not to put Bohol’s geopark status given by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), at risk.
“I urge this honorable body to join hands with the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources ((DENR) to conduct an examination and investigation of the defacement of the UNESCO Global Geopark, Chocolate Hills of Bohol,” Binlod said.
He said that an ocular inspection by the joint-committee on tourism and environment protection of the provincial board is set (last Friday) of the resort and the site where the alleged destruction of the hills took place.
He cited the news report that the identified hills have been defaced to give way to man-made structures, resort and other commercial projects. He named the “Captain’s Peak” resort in said barangay, where parks, cottages at the base have been built and two hills scraped for an access road.
In his initial huddle with the resort owner, Binlod, who hails from Carmen town the center of the Chocolate Hills location, said the resort owner (whom he did not identify) had already presented the development proposal to PAMB. But he did not say if the said project proposal got PAMB’s green light.
The Chocolate Hills is comprised of some 1,776 of conical shape and sizes spread over the towns of Carmen, Batuan, Sagbayan and other towns, according to DENR.
The Chocolate Hills are classified as natural monument, thus protected under the Republic Act 7586, or an Act Providing for the Establishment and Management of Natural Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS).
Section 20 of the law prohibits the following acts within the protected areas: 1) Hunting, destroying, disturbing, or mere possession of any plants or animals or products derived therefrom without a permit from the Management Board; 2) Dumping of any waste products; 3) use of any motorized equipment without an MB permit; 4) mutilating, defacing or destroying objects of natural beauty; 5) damaging and leaving roads and trails in a damaged condition; 6) squatting, mineral locating, or occupying any land; 7) constructing or maintaining any kind of structure, fence or enclosures; 8) leaving in exposed or unsanitary conditions refuse or debris; and 9) altering, removing, destroying or defacing boundary marks or signs.
The hills are named and protected under the Expanded National Integrated Areas Protected System (NIPAS) Act or Republic Act 7586, as amended by Republic Act No. 11038. (rvo)
