Privatization plan of Choco Hills hits snag

CARMEN - Just as some people thought that all hitches regarding the privatization plan of the Chocolate Hills Complex have been properly ironed out when another irritant cropped up along the way making the proposal encountering another delay. It was even bruited around that the Choco Hills privatization was already a done deal only to find out that it has yet to hurdle a major snag.

The brakes that rendered the privatization plan out of commission in the meantime came in the form of a recommendation to suspend any submission of business proposals. Resolution No. 07 of the Municipal Tourism Council suspended the acceptance of business proposals which was announced by the Provincial Tourism Council on the cost effective management scheme of the Chocolate Hills Complex shall be settled by both parties—the provincial government of Bohol and the LGU-Carmen. The suspension came at a time that several parties have expressed interest in the privatization proposal. The Provincial Tourism Council reportedly received offers from Boholanos based in the USA who are interested to pour in money to improve the image of the Chocolate Hills as a tourist attraction.

Businessman-millionaire Angelo Balili was also reported to cast a moist eye on the Chocolate Hills saying that one day it should be managed by private hands through his Leizure Quest, Inc. With the suspension resolution in effect, the next step the Municipal Tourism Council is going to make is forward the same to the committee on tourism of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan for its own evaluation and perusal. Even if the privatization scheme has since been considered quite a time already, both the provincial government and the LGU-Carmen are yet to act upon on the proposal. According to the MTC resolution, there is no other memorandum of contract executed by both parties aside from the original one and it is untimely to let the private sectors submit business proposals on the management scheme of the Chocolate Hills Complex.

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