Developer, mayor to fight graft case over Boracay resort
By Nestor P. Burgos Jr.
Visayas Bureau
First Posted 21:18:00 05/18/2008
ILOILO CITY, Philippines--A big property developer and Mayor Ciceron Cawaling of Malay town in Aklan are fighting a graft complaint filed against them by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for their alleged defiance of the moratorium on construction activities on Boracay Island.
Deolito Alvarez, legal counsel of the Cebu-based J. King and Sons Company, Inc., said they had yet to receive a copy of the complaint filed by the DENR before the Office of the Ombudsman last Thursday.
But based on news reports, Alvarez said the complaint was "nonsense."
"[DENR] Secretary [Jose "Lito"] Atienza is probably misinformed in filing the case," Alvarez said in a telephone interview.
Alvarez denied that his client, which has been developing the 450-room Boracay Crown Regency Hotel and Convention Center in Barangay Balabag, violated any law or ordinance.
"We were given the building and other permits by the local government unit even before the moratorium was implemented," said Alvarez.
In a four-page complaint, the DENR accused Cawaling, engineer Elizer Casidsid and the board of directors of J. King and Sons headed by Rafael King of violating Republic Act 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act), R.A. 6713 (Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Government Officials and Employees), and Executive Order 92 (Administrative Code of 1987).
The DENR alleged in its complaint that Cawaling and the municipal government gave undue advantage to the developer in issuing building, electrical, sanitary and plumbing permits despite a moratorium on construction projects on the island.
The agency pointed out in its complaint that the Malay municipal council passed a resolution declaring the moratorium on construction in Boracay on Sept. 26, 2007 but it was signed by Cawaling only in Oct. 24, 2007.
The implementing order was issued by Cawaling on January 2, 2008.
The DENR said that despite the municipal resolution, building official Elizer Casidsid issued building and other permits to the developer on Oct. 10, 2007.
Alvarez, however, said the powers to issue permits and to revoke them lay solely with the local government unit.
He said this held true for the declaration and implementation of a moratorium on construction projects,
The DENR committed a "clear encroachment on the authority of a local government unit under the Local Government Code," said Alvarez.
He also refuted the claim of the DENR that the hotel was being constructed on a 11,000-square meter property considered a wetland and a no-build zone.
The DENR has blamed the construction on wetlands as the leading cause of flooding on the island that have worsened in recent months during following continued rains.
"An ocular inspection would prove that the property is not a wetland. And the history of the tax declaration on the property would also show that it has never been classified or categorized as a wetland," said Alvarez.
Cawaling could not be reached for comment at his office or through his mobile phone. But his executive assistant, Edgardo Sancho, said they would answer the complaint upon receiving a copy of it.
"We have not violated any law or ordinance and we have implemented the moratorium passed by municipal council," said Sancho in a telephone interview.
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