Only a barangay captain who served as a chairperson of the Protected Area Management Board, or PAMB, issued a resolution allowing the Captain’s Peak Garden and Resort to build a resort in Chocolate Hills in the province of Bohol.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos Jr. on Thursday revealed this information from the initial report submitted to him by a team he formed to investigate how the resort was allowed to be built in a protected area.

“When I saw a copy of the resolution, if I’m not mistaken, the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) chairman was not present. The chairman was a barangay captain when the application for Captain’s Peak was passed,” Abalos said.

He added that PAMB’s organizational structure includes a head from DENR, a governor, three district representatives, 65 barangay captains, and other representatives of different agencies.

Abalos said the DILG is now looking at other protected areas in the country to check if illegal structures were also constructed there.

The DENR said it ordered the resort’s temporary closure in September 2023 and a Notice of Violation to the project proponent in January 2024 for operating without an environmental clearance certificate.