Senator Maria Lourdes “Nancy” Binay has called for an inquiry on the development of structures within the declared protected Chocolate Hills in Bohol province. 

Binay filed the proposed Senate Resolution 967, directing  the appropriate  Senate committees to investigate, in aid of legislation, the reported construction of  the Captain’s Peak Garden and Resort within Chocolate Hills Natural Monument “with the end in view of preserving Bohol's protected area and major tourist attraction.”

“It is necessary for the Senate to conduct an inquiry on the matter to help protect the Chocolate Hills from destruction due to the construction of illegal structures within its vicinity,” Binay, who chairs the Senate Committee on Tourism, wrote in her resolution. 

The senator lambasted the “controversial” construction of “illegal and informal structures” such as swimming pools, slides, and cottages by Captain's Peak Garden and Resort in Sagbayan town and Bud Agta in Carmen town. 

Binay said the tourist destinations are "too close to the feet" of Chocolate Hills.

Citing reports, Binay said Bohol provincial member and chairperson of the provincial board committee on environment, Atty. Jaime Villamor has urged the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Protected Area Management Board (DENR-PAMB) to stop the construction of these structures following an investigation of the said resorts.

“It was reported that during the inspection conducted by the provincial board, it was found that Captain's Peak Garden and Resort built cottages and water slides for a swimming pool at the foot or sides of at least three hills and that PAMB failed to full explain why it allowed the resort to use at least 20 percent portion of the Chocolate Hills,” she added. 

In another report, Binay said the Bud Agta resort in Barangay Tamboan, Carmen was cited by environmentalists for illegal structures near the Chocolate Hills.”

Binay, mentioning another news report, said that one of the prohibitions “under PAMB Resolution No. 01, series of 2018, governing the Chocolate Hills Natural Monument, for the Captain's Peak Garden and Resort, is that the hills should not be altered or defaced and extraction is strictly prohibited.”

The lawmaker then raised that one of the issues that needs to be resolved is whether the clearing of the access road within the resort area was a breach of existing laws.

Binay added that cutting or improvement of the access road inside the vicinity of the resort was done by the town upon the barangay's request.

“It is necessary for the Senate to conduct an inquiry on the matter to help protect the Chocolate Hills from destruction due to the construction of illegal structures within its vicinity,” Binay stressed.