Palawan board halts ecotourism project

MANILA, Philippines - The Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) has temporarily stopped a project converting Sabsaban Falls in Brooke’s Point town into an ecotourism site.

In an order last Friday, the council’s adjudication board chaired by lawyer Alfredo Abueg Jr. also directed the private developer, ABS-CBN Foundation, to strictly comply with the cease-and-desist order issued on the project.

The order was issued after the PCSD received reports from tribal leaders from Barangays Aribungos, Ipilan and Barong-Barong that the foundation allegedly continued to collect fees for the use of a bridge which they themselves built long before the area was converted into a resort.

The PCSD board also acted on a complaint filed last month by its legal department and enforcement unit against ABS-CBN Foundation and Brooke’s Point Mayor Narciso Leoncio and other local officials for allegedly violating Republic Act 7611 (Strategic Environmental Plan for Palawan Act) and its implementing rules and regulations.

Meanwhile, 19 of the 21 respondents in the complaint were excluded on the motion of provincial prosecutor Allen Ross Rodriguez, a PCSD board member, for not being directly involved in the ecotourism project.

In a memorandum of agreement, the Brooke’s Point municipal government and the municipal council allowed ABC-CBN Foundation to develop Sabsaban Falls into an ecotourism area.