Villar backs calls to demolish Chocolate Hills resort

MANILA, Philippines — The Captain’s Peak Resort at Chocolate Hills in Bohol should be demolished, according to Sen. Cynthia Villar.

“It is not possible that there is a resort there. If the development was agriculture, it’s still possible. There is harmony there, but a resort is not possible,” Villar, chairman of the Senate committee on environment, said in a chance interview.

She said barangay and environment officials who approved the construction of the resort should compensate its owner.

Villar said her committee would recommend reorganizing the Protected Area Management Board to include more non-government organizations. She said the current PAMB is composed of local officials, mostly from the barangay level.

Sen. Nancy Binay had earlier pushed for the demolition of the resort to prevent more businesses from building structures in protected areas.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources said all structures at Chocolate Hills would likely be demolished to restore the protected area.

Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda said the chamber would investigate more environmental degradation in protected areas.

In an interview on ANC yesterday, Legarda said the Senate would assert its oversight functions to ensure that environmental laws and policies are implemented.

“If nature is protected, nature protects us,” she said.