Senator Binay blames Bohol uproar on information lack

Sen. Nancy Binay (Voltaire F. Domingo/Senate PRIB)

Structures were probably allowed to be built within the vicinity of the famed Chocolate Hills, apparently due to the lack of information dissemination among the communities about the importance of preserving it as a protected area, according to Sen. Nancy Binay.

“Maybe the people in the area were not aware that Bohol Island had been declared as a Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Global Geopark. And such declarations come with limitations and rules in order to protect the area,” she said in an interview with dwIZ on Saturday.

“Maybe that’s what we need to do—we need to intensify information dissemination not only among the officials of the local governments but more importantly, among the people on the ground, those in the community. They need to be informed about the importance of protecting the area,” added Binay.

The senator, who is the chair of the Senate committee on tourism, earlier filed a resolution seeking to investigate the construction and operation of a resort in the middle of Chocolate Hills.

READ: Binay on seeing resorts in Chocolate Hills: ‘Infuriating, heartbreaking’

She noted that the pictures and videos of Captain’s Peak Garden and Resort went viral because of a vlogger who was promoting the resort.

Accidental discovery

“It came to light because a vlogger was promoting it, not because somebody was complaining about it. Apparently, it was accepted in that community that there was such a structure within the Chocolate Hills,” Binay said.

Captain’s Peak has been at the center of a public uproar for building a swimming pool, cottages, and other structures at the foot of the Chocolate Hills, considered a natural monument and a protected landscape in the town.

The Chocolate Hills, a symbol of Bohol tourism, is recognized as one of the Unesco Global Geoparks, the first in the country.

The attraction is composed of 1,776 limestone mounds surrounding the island’s interior plains. It earned its name because the hills turn brown, like chocolates, during the dry season. The biggest concentrations of these hills are found in the towns of Carmen, Batuan, and Sagbayan.

In 1997, former President Fidel Ramos, through Presidential Decree No. 1037, declared the Chocolate Hills in Carmen, Bilar, Batuan, Sagbayan, Sierra Bullones, and Valencia towns as a Natural Monument, ensuring their protection.

Sen. Cynthia Villar, in an interview with dzBB on Sunday, said structures may be allowed to be built in the vicinity of Chocolate Hills but it should enhance and not destroy the protected area.

“Structures should be in [the] form of a museum, a visitors’ hall where guests could attend lectures about the protected area, government offices for concerned agencies and a visitors’ center that could handle large crowds. It’s not really for business,” she said. INQ