Hotel construction in protected area assailed

CEBU, Philippines – An officer of the Central Cebu Protected Landscape (CCPL) – Protected Area Management Board has assailed the alleged illegal construction of a hotel within a protected landscape in Cebu City.

 Jose Gapas, chairman of the committee on law enforcement and protection of natural resources of CCPL-PAMB, said the company that is building the hotel used the Environmental Compliance Certificate issued by the Environment Management Bureau-7 to “illegally enter and illegally construct a big hotel within CCPL”.

The Freeman is withholding the name of the company pending comment.

 EMB-7 is an attached agency of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-7.

 Approved under Republic Act No. 9486 on June 7, 2007, CCPL covers a consolidated area of 28,312 hectares consisting of the Buhisan Watershed Forest Reserve, Mananga Watershed Forest Reserve, Sudlon National Park, Central Cebu National Park and the Kotkot-Lusaran Watershed Forest Reserve located in the cities of Cebu, Talisay, Toledo and Danao, and in the municipalities of Minglanilla, Consolacion, Liloan, Compostela, and Balamban.

 DENR-7 spokesperson Eddie Llamedo said an ECC is not a guarantee for developers to be able to build infrastructures within CCPL.

 He said an endorsement or memorandum of agreement/understanding and other permits from DENR though PAMB, a governing body of CCPL, and a barangay resolution must be issued first before any undertaking.

 He said he will check if the company has pertinent documentation or tenurial instrument like a special agreement in protected areas and/or a MOA with PAMB for ecotourism developments.  He said, though, that any individual or firm can put up developments within CCPL if projects are in line with the promotion of ecotourism.

 “We allow developments for eco-tourism purposes,” he said.

 The developer, however, must develop a protected landscape without destroying the ecosystem, wildlife or flora and fauna of the area. Also, adopt a mountain for reforestation.

 “It should be in harmony with the overall environmental landscape,” Llamedo said.

 Section 21 of the Republic Act No. 7586 or the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 1992 states that whoever violates the law may be fined not less than P5,000 or more than P500,000, exclusive of the value of the thing damaged or imprisonment for not less than one year but not more than six  years, or both, as determined by the court.

 If the area requires rehabilitation or restoration as determined by the court, the offender is required to restore or compensate for the restoration to the damages.

 Moreover, Gapas said illegal occupants and structures within CCPL are causing deterioration and losing the viability of CCPL as a watershed and its biodiversity as a protected area.

 “Because of these unabated activities of these illegal occupants, the island of Cebu is in a catastrophic descent into an environmental crisis,” he said in a letter addressed to DENR Regional Director Isabelo Montejo.

 “There is a need for unity and solidarity to address this dire and catastrophic environmental situation in Cebu. This crisis and the future habitability of Cebu need it,” he added.

 He invoked Article II, Section 16 of the Philippine Constitution which states, “the state shall protect and advance the right of the people to a balanced and healthful ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature.”

 EMB-7 Director William Cuñado recognized the statement of Gapas, saying, however, the latter must provide a holistic and statistical basis to prove Cebu’s real environmental scenario.

 He said they have undertaken an intensive greening program for the whole Central Visayas as they established 5,661.20 hectares of National Greening Program plantations in Central Visayas this year.

 In a four-year period, DENR-7 was able to establish a total of 80,703 hectares of NGP plantations in all four provinces in the region exceeding its target of 77,479 hectares for six years.

  NGP is one of the flagship programs of the Aquino Administration aimed at greening 1.5 million hectares of degraded forest lands in the country. —/JMO (FREEMAN)