Bohol governor and 68 others suspended over chaos at Chocolate Hills Resort

By: Leo Udtohan – 1 hour ago

Bohol Governor Aris Aumentado (Photo courtesy of the Provincial Government of Bohol)

TAGBILARAN CITY – The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered a six-month preventive suspension against Bohol Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado and 68 other public officials over the construction of a controversial resort in the famous Chocolate Hills.

In its order, the Anti-Corruption Bureau explained that the operation of Captain’s Peak Garden and Resort in Barangay Canmano in Sagbayan town was permitted even without the required environmental impact assessment, Environmental Impact Certificate (ECC) and Special Use Agreement for Protected Areas (SAPA) from the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

“The respondents acted with manifest partiality, obvious bad faith, gross, inexcusable negligence and committed gross violations of the National Integrated Protected Area System Act, 1992 (NIPAS Act, 1992) and the Expanded National Integrated Protected Area System Act, 2018 (E-NIPAS Act, 2018) when they persisted and continued to tolerate the operation and expansion of Captain’s Peak despite the lack of environmental permits and approvals,” it said.

The Ombudsman said the resort had been granted mayoral, commercial, building and siting permits for the years 2020 to 2024, despite repeated failed attempts to obtain the necessary permits and clearances from the DENR.

The defendants are under investigation for serious misconduct, gross neglect of duty and conduct detrimental to service.

Aumentado, 46, said it was the first time he had been suspended as a government official since he was elected to represent Bohol’s second district in 2013 until he became governor in 2022.

He said he received the Ombudsman’s orders on Tuesday afternoon.

“I didn’t expect this. But there’s nothing we can do about it. We have to comply with the order. We will face this. God knows what’s in my heart,” the governor told Capitol staff.

Vice Governor Dionisio Victor Balite has been serving as governor of Bohol since Tuesday.

In addition to Aumentado, Mayors Restituto Suarez III (Sagbayan), Antonino, Jumawid (Batuan), Elizabeth Mandin-Pace (Catigbian), Eugeniano Ibarra (Clarin), Norman Palacio (Bilar), Michael Doria (Sierra Bullones), Dionisio Neil Balite (Valencia) and Conchita Toribio-Delos Reyes (Carmen) were also suspended.

The defendants in this case were former mayors Manuel Jayectin (Bilar), Simplicio Maestrado Jr. (Sierra Bullones), Maria Katrina Lim (Valencia), Calixto Garcia (Valencia) and Ricardo Toribio (Carmen), as well as the deputy mayor of Bilar, Ranulfo Maligmat.

Also suspended were Ma. Victoria Abrera, DENR-Environment Management Bureau Regional Director; Paquito Melicor, DENR Regional Executive Director; and Gilbert Gonzales, DENR-Central Visayas Regional Director; Eugene Cabrera, Civil Defense Regional Director; and Joel Elumba, Department of Agriculture-Central Visayas Regional Director, as well as some local village heads in Bilar, Carmen, Sagbayan, Batuan, Bilar, Dagohoy, and Clarin.

The Chocolate Hills were recognized as the country’s first UNESCO Geopark.

The hills consist of 1,776 limestone hills that surround the plains inland of the island.

In 1997, then President Fidel Ramos declared the Chocolate Hills a natural monument with Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1037.