EDITORIAL — Not the last resort

Apparently it’s not just in Bohol’s famous Chocolate Hills where mountain resorts are being built where they shouldn’t; it’s also happening here in the town of Carmen, Cebu.

According to a report in this newspaper, the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB)-7 is set to issue a cease and desist order against two mountain resorts; the Durano Eco Farm and Spring Resort in Barangay Corte and the Middle Earth Mountain Resort in Barangay Lower Natimao-an.

Both resorts reportedly built concrete structures within the mandatory 20-meter easement zone of the Luyang River. Both have also been operating without an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC).

It gets worse, according to Engr. Mary Ann Bueno, chief of the Environmental Impact Assessment Section of EMB-7, the two resorts channeled water from the Luyang River and into their pools, some of which were built under the huts and cottages meant for guests, before being discharged back to the same river as wastewater without being properly treated.

Both resorts have promised to rectify their designs, but who knows what damage has already been done? We aren’t just talking about how the designs of the pools affected the natural flow of the river, possibly contributing to the lack of water being experienced in the lowlands, but also the pollution caused.

So how did it get to here? And what’s with the lack of ECC? Is this another case of local officials not knowing what is being built in their backyard? Or did they know but didn’t really care? Or they did know and care but were powerless to stop it?

Of course, all this leads us to ask the same question we did when the Chocolate Hills resorts controversy broke out; how many other resorts out there are in places where they shouldn’t be built? What damage are they causing to some fragile ecosystems? To play with words, we are sure this isn’t the last resort.

These questions are worth asking because we always this tendency to overlook the environment when it comes to tourism.

We only have to remember how canyoneering activities in Barangay Matutinao, Badian, led to the blooming of illegal structures on the easement of Kawasan Falls and on the canyoneering trail, or how those floating cottages in Barangay Catarman in Cordova town polluted the sea.