DENR shows Dumaluan is untouchable no more

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) through a newly created task force served notice that a new sheriff is in town when it closed the Dumaluan Beach Resort Tuesday (DBR) even as it considered the possibility of demolishing illegal structures inside it. The National Anti-Environmental Crime Task Force (NAECTAF) served notice of its existence when a team led by Undersecretary Roy Kyamko padlocked the BDR after it was found to be fully operational.

This ran counter to a manifestation of voluntary compliance made by Panglao Mayor Doloreich Dumaluan to a cease-and-desist order (CDO) issued against the resort for violating environmental laws including its operation without an environmental compliance certificate. Kyamko personally served the closure order at the BDR on the basis of a memorandum issued by DENR Secretary Angelo Reyes last Sept. 15 for the implementation of the CDO. A retired general like Reyes, Kyamko led a NAECTAF team with a complement of police and military personnel that served the order at the DBR which has mocked all complaints against it. Contrary to the manifestation of voluntary compliance made by the mayor, the NAECTAF team found out that the resort had continued to operate normally. While the array of government personnel led by no less than an undersecretary who is a retired general would have intimidated lesser mortals, the resort management remained unfazed by shooing away the NAECTAF team.

The mayor himself showed no signs of giving in, firing broadsides over a friendly radio station by insisting that his resort has in fact been issued with an ECC. Downplaying the reversal as a minor problem that can be rectified by paying the fines, Dumaluan threatened to take legal action over the closure which somehow deflated the resort's reputation as a holy cow. While other resorts in Bohol 's premier resort town try to comply with environmental laws, DBR has been fully operational even without an ECC. It has also been accused of violating height restrictions and the 20-meter salvage zone.    Kyamko in fact has requested DENR Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Armi Jane Roa-Borje to review and evaluate a memorandum by then OIC Regional Director Celso Loriega Jr. regarding the inventory of structures within the 20-meter environmental zone.

In an earlier memorandum to Reyes dated Aug. 14, Kyamko noted that the CDO was not successfully enforced against the DBR “perhaps due to the status of (Dumaluan),” who is the incumbent mayor. Kyamko noted that DBR had been given the “widest opportunity to voluntarily comply with the CDO” but an ocular inspection report indicated that it continues to operate, “thus, undermining the authority of the DENR”. “To top it all, the DBR have again violated the law by constructing a three (3) storey building that encroach a portion of the 20 meter easement zone,” Kyamko noted. Meanwhile, current OIC Regional Director Alan Arranguez issued a press release to refute Dumaluan's claim that he has already been issued an ECC.

In a press release dated Sept. 29, Arranguez narrated that Dumaluan applied for an ECC on May 8, 2003. The application underwent the process which took time “due to deficiencies in terms of documentary requirements”. Dumaluan's application was returned twice with the information that he has to submit the additional documentary requirements. While he was still processing his ECC application, Dumaluan was issued a notice of violation for implementing a project without an ECC and was required to pay the penalty. Arranguez noted that the notice of violation dated Dec. 28, 2004 “was not given much attention and positive action by the proponent” until he sent a letter on Dec. 15, 2005 to ask for reconsideration.

In that request, Dumaluan committed to submit to a formal motion for reconsideration . He also committed to pay the penalty in the event that the motion will be denied and that in case he failed the penalty, the ECC will be “suspended and/or cancelled”. Arranguez also revealed that when the NAECTAF team led by Kyamko enforced the CDO, Dumaluan's son went to his office to pay the penalty. In deference to Kyamko, Arranguez said Dumaluan's representative was advised to wait for the official report. “It is not true that the representative was advised that he has to make the payments of the penalty in Manila nor the chief of the legal division declined to receive the payment of the penalty,” Arranguez stressed. He stressed that the action taken by his office “is but an exercise of a public duty pursuant to the mandate of the DENR”.

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