A GROUP on Monday urged the Environment department to rescind its resolutions allowing the construction of a resort on the foothills of the Chocolate Hills in Bohol province in central Philippines.
During a House of Representatives hearing, Tagbilaran Baywatch said the agency’s Protected Area Management Bureau (PAMB) could have misinterpreted a presidential proclamation disallowing the construction of structures 20 meters from the hills, which are a protected area.
“It’s very clear in Proclamation No. 333 that the hill itself and the drawback, which is at 20 meters, should have been a no-build zone,” Tagbilaran Baywatch spokesperson Esther Gertrude Biliran told the House committee on natural resources.
Instead, the PAMP allowed Captain’s Peak Resort to build on 20% of the hill, “so they may have misinterpreted [the proclamation],” she added. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio
