SENATORS yesterday slammed the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for being remiss in its duty to preserve the environment by turning a blind eye on the questionable construction of resorts and other business establishments within the Chocolate Hills in Bohol and the Mt. Apo National Park in Davao, among others.
Senators were not pleased when Environment Secretary Ma. Antonio Yulo-Loyzaga told the Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Climate Change that the DENR should not be faulted for the mess because no member of the agency was present when the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) of Bohol met and approved the construction of the Captain Peak’s Resort within the vicinity of the Chocolate Hills.
“We were not there during the meeting,” she said.
Besides, Yulo-Loyzaga said that even if any DENR representative was present in the meeting, it would have no bearing on the PAMB decision since “the agency only sits as chair which has no power to vote.”
She said PAMB’s membership “is dominated by local interests.”
“The PAMB can be constituted (even) when the DENR is absent or unavailable by the majority of the members. In the case of the Chocolate Hills, it was the barangay officials that actually approved the resolution,” Yulo-Loyzaga said during the first committee hearing on the defacement or exploitation of the Chocolate Hills and other protected areas in the country.
Sen. Cynthia Villar, committee chairperson, scoffed at Yulo-Loyzaga’s statement, saying DENR officials could have intentionally skipped the PAMB meeting so they cannot be officially blamed in case of future problems that may arise from the operations of Captain’s Peak.
“Tingin ko ginamit ang mga barangay captain para makalusot (I think the barangay captains were used so that the project will be approved),” Villar said.
Yulo-Loyzaga said that Captain’s Peak Resort “appears to be a titled property among the vast alienable and disposable areas within the protected area,” even as she said that its owners should have secured an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) based on RA 11038, or the Expanded-National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 2018, and the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) resolutions issued.”
DENR – Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) director Assistant Secretary Gilbert Gonzales, who was the PAMB – Bohol chair when the Captain’s Peak operation was allowed, said the approval underwent the proper process.
Gonzales, though, said that he was not present when the Captain’s Peak application to operate was approved.
Senate president pro tempore Loren Legarda said the application to operate of a project in protected areas is not given the green light in just one meeting, which she said is like passing a legislative measure which requires a number of hearings.
Legarda said Gonzales cannot use his absence during the meeting as an excuse to get off liability since he could have looked at and reviewed the minutes of the past meetings to determine if the project is viable.
“Hindi puwede na one day absent, in-approve ng PAMB, ng DENR at naitayo na lang nang walang kaalaman? (Being absent is not an excuse, and then the resort was constructed without the knowledge of PAMB and DENR?) I cannot believe that the absence of the PAMB chair, who is the regional director that time, will allow it to happen and did not know what was going on under his nose and eyes at that time,” Legarda said.
She said if what happened at the Chocolate Hills is the norm, then existing laws pertaining to the declaration of protected areas will not be recognized by the people.
“Otherwise, babalewalain ng lahat, hindi lang ng DENR, pati na ng buong byurokrasya, ang ating mga batas. Sasabihin absent ako noon eh, and we will leave it at that? Absent ako noon so wala akong kinalaman doon (Otherwise, our laws will be disregarded by all, not only the DENR, but also the whole bureaucracy, as well. He will just say that he is absent, and we will leave it at that? I am absent, therefore, I have nothing to do with it),” she said.
Sen. Nancy Binay said PAMB meetings should not push through when there is no DENR representative.
Sen. Raffy Tulfo stressed the DENR should be the protector of the environment.
“Because of recent events, lumilitaw na ang DENR ay isang ahensiya na matatawag kong bantay-salakay, turo-turo style. Bakit po turo-turo style? Nagtuturuan. (Because of recent events, it appears that the DENR is an agency that likes to engage in finger-pointing),” Tulfo said.
Villar said the DENR should have strictly monitored the developments in the approval of the operations of Captain’s Peak since it is the sole authority that can issue an ECC, the absence of which precludes businesses from putting up any structure in any place in the country.
She accused the DENR of not being “serious” in its responsibility to protect the environment and said its regional offices seem to be one of the weak links in the department’s protection mechanisms.
She likewise said the composition of the PAMB and the guidelines on the issuance of an ECC should be amended.
E-NIPAS
Binay complained that a mere P50,000 penalty was imposed on Captain’s Peak.
“Lumalabas na paulit-ulit nangyayari ang mga violations. Walang nakakasuhan. Lumalabas na ‘yung illegal ay nagiging legal bigla. Hindi naisyuhan ng ECC tapos ang penalty P50,000 lang imbes na outright ang decision na tanggalin ang structure (It appears that violation have been happening over and over. No one is being charged. The illegal becomes legal. An ECC was not issued then the penalty is only P50,000 instead of an outright decision to demolish the structure),” Binay said.
Legarda said that under RA 11038, or the E-NIPAS Act, the erring implementing agency should be made accountable for any irregularity.
“That is the reason why we put up the PAMB, a protected area management bureau. Kaya tinalaga nating chair ay ‘yung regional executive director para mag-alaga for biodiversity conservation, not for hotel management,” she said.
Binay said the E-NIPAS Act should be reviewed to add more teeth to the measure in cases like this since the penalty of P50,000 “should not cure the violation.”
“Yung isang resort walang ECC tapos ang penalty ay P50,000, tapos inisyuhan rin ng ECC. Magiging paulit-ulit ang violation kasi at the end of the day magbabayad lang ng P50,000
(We have here a resort which has no ECC and then we just impose a P50,000 penalty, and then an ECC will be issued. The violations will happen all over again because at the end of the day they will only be fined P50,000),” she also said.
TIP OF THE ICEBERG
Aside from the Chocolate Hillls, Villar said there are other protected areas in the country which also reportedly have structures similar to the Captain’s Peak.
She said among these protected areas are the Upper Marikina River Basin Prot ected Landscape, Siargao Island Protected Landscape and Seascape, and the Mt. Apo National Park.
She said the committee will tackle the other areas in another meeting.
“The controversies surrounding the four mentioned protected areas may just constitute the tip of an iceberg. We have yet to uncover the full extend of the challenges facing our protected areas,” she said.
She said the Philippines has 248 protected areas, of which 114 were formally legislated, 121 are initial components of the NIPAS System, and 13 were established through presidential proclamations.
Tulfo said during the hearing that he received information that it was not only the Captain’s Peak Resort which was illegally constructed in Bohol.
“Ito po ang isang shipyard na kung saan 10 hectares po ng mangrove ang sinira para magpatayo ng shipyard doon. Alam na ipinagbabawal ang pagputol ng mangroves base sa batas, pero bakit po pinayagan ang pagpapatayo ng shipyuard sa Bohol. Bakit ito nabigyan ng ECC? (There is a shipyard where 10 hectares of mangrove were destroyed so it can be built. We all know that it is illegal to cut mangroves under the law but why was its construction allowed in Bohol? Why was it issued an ECC?),” he said.
He said another concern that the DENR should address is the black sand mining of Chinese firms in Zambales, the produce of which were supposedly sold to the Philippine government that was used for the reclamation activities at the Manila Bay.
Villar likewise raised the issue of the operations of the Masungi Georeserve Foundation (MGF), which is operating in a protected area.
DENR Undersecretary Ernesto Adobo said that based on a Department of Justice opinion, the operation of the MGF is unconstitutional from the very beginning.
Adobo said the DENR has recommended the cancellation of Masungi’s memorandum of agreement with the DENR.
Villar said: “If it is void, then it doesn’t exist. How come they are still there?”
Adobo did not give a categorical answer to Villar.
