Captain’s Peak Resorts committed environmental law violations — DENR

The owner of the controversial Captain’s Peak Resorts at the Chocolate Hills in Bohol committed violations in terms of environmental laws.

“Nagdi-discharge ng tubig without a discharge permit, there’s a corresponding fine. For failure to register as a hazardous waste generator, may fine po ‘yun,” Juan Miguel Cuna, DENR Undersecretary for Field Operations - Luzon, Visayas and Environment, said.

Cuna stated that Captain's Peak Resorts' lack of an ECC (Environmental Compliance Certificate) was not the sole violation it had committed.

He said the resort owner may also be subjected to hefty fines as it also lacked other registration requirements.

“Under the E-NIPAS (Expanded National Integrated Protected Area System Act), for criminal liability, may mga penalty po siya. Minimum of P1 million to P5 million maximum for criminal liability. Minimum of 6 to maximum of 12 years for putting up structures without the permits within the protected area. Meron ding administrative fines na pwedeng i-impose sa kanila, starts at P50,000 and a max of P5 million,” Cuna explained at a virtual press briefing over the weekend.

He added that DENR personnel, who visited and inspected the resort on Thursday, found that the establishment was using a deep well.

“We’ve checked with the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) if they have obtained a permit for this or whether they have a pending application. The NWRB has already issued a certification that they don’t have a permit neither do they have an application for this," Cuna said.

DENR Secretary Toni Yulo Loyzaga, on the other hand, who is still in New York for a speaking engagement, said the DENR would like to emphasized that it is not singling out any establishment.

"Dapat po at lahat ay mapasara na yan, di lang iisa marami nag-ooperate (All of the resorts there, operating) without ECC. Meron kami sa (We have in) Siargiao an EEC on wheels, because there are over 1,000 establishments there. About 900 of them has no ECC," Loyzaga said.

“It’s not whether they were not given a copy. I think they know at the local level what the requirements that need to be fulfilled are before issuing a building permit on a protected area," Loyzaga explained, referring to claims made by the Municipality of Sagbayan that it did not receive a copy of the temporary closure order issued by her department.

Loyzaga added the agency learned that Captain’s Peak Resort was first granted a building permit by the LGU in 2020.

At that time, according to Loyzaga, the LGU already knew the resort didn’t have an ECC.

"I think they know that the resort has not applied for an ECC. So the local government continued to issue permits. I think they know that while the proponents of the project were building all of these, they did not apply for the ECC," the DENR Secretary said.

She admitted that better coordination is needed with local governments and regional offices and other stakeholders and that an evaluation of systems and personnel are currently being done.

"It will result in some changes in the line up of team members on the ground,” Loyzaga said.