Another Bohol resort investigated for environmental violations

PROTECTED ZONE The construction of these structures within the Sta. Fe Beach in Alburquerque, Bohol, is being questioned by some residents since it is built within a protected area and has no environmental compliance certificate from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. LEO UDTOHAN

TAGBILARAN CITY, BOHOL, Philippines — The discovery of illegal structures at the Chocolate Hills in Bohol province last month has opened a can of worms. The Provincial Board (PB) is now looking into a tourism establishment built within a protected area in Alburquerque town, which is part of the Alburquerque-Loay-Loboc Protected Landscape and Seascape (ALLPLS) under the National Integrated Protected Area System (Nipas) Act of 1992.

The investigation on Victour’s Recreation Hub, which has been operating for five months and is located inside the protected Sta. Fe Beach stemmed from the complaints of concerned residents of the town.

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PB Member Jamie Aumentado Villamor, chair of the PB committee on environment and natural protection, led local officials in an on-site investigation at the establishment on April 11 to determine the violations of Victour’s Recreational Hub, which opened in October 2023 offering kayaking, firefly watching and whale shark watching to tourists.

Villamor, a lawyer, said her committee was currently drafting the ordinance to preserve the Bohol Geopark and the proposals for the amendments of the expanded Nipas law and other existing guidelines.

The ALLPLS has an area of 1,165.51 hectares, which covers the towns of Alburquerque, Loay and Loboc. It is one of the province’s 17 protected areas (PAs).

READ: DENR stops operation of Chocolate Hills resort

Invited to invest

During the on-site investigation, Villamor found out that Sta. Fe Beach is a public beach since local residents have enjoyed unrestricted access to the beach for many decades.

Villamor said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) had been collecting an environmental fee of P30 per adult person and P15 for each student for whale shark watching that operates from 5 a.m. to noon. But the DENR has stopped collecting the environment users fee since last week, said Villamor.

Victor Garay, owner of Victour’s Recreation Hub, said his establishment was cleared by the province’s Protected Area Management Board while the environmental compliance certificate (ECC) was still being processed and pending before the DENR.

Garay said that when they received the “immediate stoppage order” from the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office last April 8, they immediately removed a movable nipa hut they used as a ticketing office and moved it to a private area outside the protected area.

“We have to comply. Victour’s is not using the protected area anymore,” said Garay.

Garay said he set up a business in Albuquerque after he was invited by its mayor, Ritchie Buates, to invest in the town.

Other violations

Alburquerque, a fifth-class municipality with a population of 11,246, has 11 barangays that all received shares from the income generated by his business, Garay said.

He said his business also employs 200 people, all residents of Alburquerque.

But Garay’s business was not the only establishment within Sta. Fe Beach Resort allegedly violated environmental laws.

In December 2020, some residents of Alburquerque belonging to the “Alburanons Care” movement asked the PB to investigate the proposed beach and nature resort projects in Barangay Santa, which were “deemed environmentally critical because they are done in the protected area” of the ALLPLS.

The Albur Tourism Complex, located inside the Sta. Fe Beach is also within the PA and allegedly has no ECC and Special Use Agreement in Protected Areas from the government, they said.

“We are aware that Sta. Fe Beach is within the protected area. Therefore, Victour’s Recreation Hub is not supposed to be there. The butanding (whale shark) watching, which is their tourist activity, is also done just beside the fish sanctuary but most often inside the sanctuary,” part of the complaint read.