Bohol mayors rally behind suspended governor

Erico Aristotle Aumentado —PHOTO FROM THE OFFICIAL PAGE OF THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT OF BOHOL

TAGBILARAN CITY—The leader of the league of mayors in Bohol province said that while local officials were respecting the decision of the Office of the Ombudsman to suspend for six months Gov. Erico Aristotle Aumentado and 68 others in relation to the construction of a resort in Chocolate Hills, he found the sanction to be “severe.”

President Carlos P. Garcia Mayor Fernando Estavilla, president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP)-Bohol chapter, said the group was organizing a prayer rally to show their support for Aumentado and the other suspended.

“We respect the decision of the Ombudsman. However, we are dismayed by the weight of the sanction,” Estavilla said.

“Let us make noise. A voice praying for Bohol, for the love of Bohol,” he said.

On social media, several Boholanos showed their support for Aumentado by changing their profile photos on Facebook with the letter “A” in green, the political color of the governor.

In its recent order, the antigraft office said the Captain’s Peak Garden and Resort in Barangay Canmano in Sagbayan town was allowed to operate even without the required environmental impact assessment, environmental compliance certificate and special use agreement in protected areas from the Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Aside from Aumentado, also slapped with a six-month preventive suspension were eight incumbent mayors: Restituto Suarez III (Sagbayan), Antonino Jumawid (Batuan), Elizabeth Pace (Catigbian), Eugeniano Ibarra (Clarin), Norman Palacio (Bilar), Michael Doria (Sierra Bullones), Dionisio Neil Balite (Valencia) and Conchita Toribio-delos Reyes (Carmen).

Estavilla said he was saddened by the decision, which he described as “severe.”

He said the LMP would provide legal assistance to the mayors who intended to file a motion and ask the Ombudsman to reconsider its decision. Aside from Aumentado and the mayors, 31 village chiefs and six village council members were also included in the suspension order.

No direct participation

Aumentado said he had no plans of contesting the order but maintained that the provincial government had no direct participation in the issuance of permits or licenses for the operation of Captain’s Peak Resort.

According to Aumentado, the Local Government Code of 1991 (Republic Act No. 7160), the National Building Code, and other laws state that the governor has no role in the issuance of a building or business permit.

The Chocolate Hills, one of the country’s geological wonders, consist of 1,776 conical mounds of different sizes found mostly in the towns of Bilar, Carmen, Batuan, Sierra Bullones and Sagbayan.

According to the DENR, these are named and protected under the Expanded National Integrated Areas Protected System Act or RA 7586, as amended by RA 11038.

Over the years, at least 500 establishments have been constructed within the areas covered by the Chocolate Hills Natural Monument.

In 1997, then President Fidel V. Ramos, through Presidential Decree No. 1037, declared the Chocolate Hills as a natural monument, ensuring their protection.