Last Tuesday, the Office of the Ombudsman issued an order suspending the provincial governor and eight municipal mayors of Bohol for six months along with 60 other public officials over the construction of a controversial resort at the world-famous Chocolate Hills.
The anti-graft body said the Captain’s Peak Garden and Resort was allowed to operate by these local government unit (LGU) officials without the required permits and clearances from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). They allegedly committed gross violations of the National Integrated Protected Area System (NIPAS) Act of 1992 and the Expanded NIPAS Act of 2018.
Some 40 kilometers east of Metro Manila, another protected area is being closely watched due to activities that have reportedly violated the two NIPAS laws. Under scrutiny is the Masungi Georeserve project, which is for the preservation of nature in the towns of Tanay and Baras in Rizal province.
A memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the DENR in 2017 and a foundation was entered into stipulating that the non-profit foundation would plant and nurture trees to aid the restoration of a 2,700-hectare area in the Upper Marikina River Basin and Protected Landscape.
But at a recent public hearing in the House of Representatives, DENR officials said they planned to cancel the MOA because it is considered void ab initio. They cited a legal opinion from the Department of Justice that the perpetual land trust for conservation in the Masungi Georeserve is unconstitutional.
LGU officials of Tanay and Baras have also questioned the foundation’s tourism operations that seem to be highly profitable when it is supposed to be a non-profit foundation. They have passed resolutions condemning the developments in the area and prohibiting the continuation of such activities.
Brochures also promote the nature preserve as a venue for events, dining, accommodations, prenuptial photoshoots, destination weddings, meeting spaces, and seminars. Six-digit rental fees for its function halls have raised eyebrows, while an overnight stay for two guests at the Kanlungan Lodges costs P100,000. Every visitor to the area is charged a conservation fee of P1,500 on weekdays and P1,800 on weekends on top of the rental and room charges.
According to the DENR, none of these facilities have the required permits from the LGUs and the Protected Area Management Board.
I hope this will not turn out to be even worse than the illegal structures on the Chocolate Hills that had at least obtained clearances from the LGU officials who have now been suspended by the Ombudsman.
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J. Albert Gamboa is a Life Member of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX) and Vice-Chair of the FINEX Ethics Committee. The opinion expressed herein does not necessarily reflect the views of these institutions and the Manila Bulletin. #FinexPhils www.finex.org.ph