King to sue DENR execs

Cebuano hotel developer Richard King yesterday announced he will be filing at Ombudsman-Visayas next week graft charges against Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Lito Atienza and DENR officials in Region 6.

King, president and chief executive officer of J. King & Sons Company Inc. and owner of the Crown Regency Hotel chain, made the announcement in yesterday’s press conference at Club Ultima Tower, an establishment also owned by his company.

King accused Atienza and his subordinates in Region 6 for “conspiring to harass” the realization of his P1.2 billion hotel project at barangay Balabag in Malay town of Aklan, or in the famous Boracay Island.

“We have kept quiet despite being the target of malicious accusations by them because we don’t want to downgrade ourselves to the level of grandstanding politicians,” King said.

King’s lawyer, Deolito Alvarez, said it will be a graft complaint because the DENR officials have caused undue injury with evident malice against the company.

The Boracay Crown Regency Hotel and Convention Center was endorsed by Tourism Secretary Joseph Durano since it started in July last year, he said.

Atienza however assailed the project based on allegations that the classification of the land is wetland and therefore not suitable for a hotel development.

King refuted this in a press conference in Manila the other day, saying the “wetland” is located on the other side of the road, far from the site of the hotel project.

Copies of the Declaration of Real Property since 1948 classified the area a coconut land until it was reclassified as a tourist and commercial zone by the local government in 1998, King said.

King is the third owner of the land, he bought in 2007, following its first owner Simplicio Gelito some 60 years ago, and Rosario Garcia a decade ago.  — Ferliza C. Contratista/RAE