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The controversial Chocolate Hills Resort

Jose Carretero

ABS-CBN News

<div><span dir="ltr" id="isPasted"></span></div><p>(UPDATED) UNESCO National Commission Secretary General Ivan Henares urged the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Bohol government to look into possible violations in the construction of a resort at the foot of Chocolate Hills.</p><p> Henares noted that parts of the Chocolates Hills appeared to have been dug out to build the structure.</p><p> “My recommendation really is for the DENR and the local government of Bohol to sit down, discuss the situation and determine if there were violations why this resort was allowed to build on the hills. I saw that there were some elements of the resort that damaged the hills itself and I think this is a violation and the local government of Bohol and the DENR if indeed there were <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/3/13/manager-admits-controversial-chocolate-hills-resort-has-no-environment-certificate-722">prior permit</a> given can issue <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/3/14/lgu-says-it-did-not-get-copy-of-closure-order-vs-chocolate-hill-resort-1629">notices of violations</a> to the resort and order its closure,” Henares said. </p><p>Henares also urged the local government and DENR to ensure that titled properties around the Chocolate Hills are well regulated.</p><p>“If I was reading it correctly may mga privately titled land na diyan even before the designation of the C<span data-darkreader-inline-bgcolor="" data-darkreader-inline-color="" id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(65, 65, 65);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;float:none;--darkreader-inline-color:#bfb9b1;--darkreader-inline-bgcolor:#181a1b;display:inline !important">hocolate Hills </span>as a protected area. Now that [it] is a protected area there should be really set guidelines, what people can do in these privately titled properties to ensure the protection of Chocolate Hills,” Henares added.</p><p>In his Facebook post, Henares also asked the Protected Areas Management Board (PAMB) to revisit its development guidelines for the protected area to prevent incompatible developments from happening. </p><p>Henares declined to answer if the construction of the resort would affect the status of the Chocolate Hills as a UNESCO Global Geoparks. </p><p>The title was given to Chocolate Hills last year and Henares said validation is done every four years.</p><p>“The designation of UNESCO Geoparks is not something that is permanent; there is an evaluation every four years to determine if the Geopark should still remain a Global Geopark,” he said.</p><p>In a separate statement, Maki Katsuno-Hayashikawa, Director of  the UNESCO Office in Jakarta and UNESCO  Representative in Indonesia, Brunei  Darussalam, Malaysia, the Philippines  and Timor-Leste, expressed support for the actions taken by DENR to protect the Chocolate Hills.</p><p>“We support the Department&#x27;s (DENR) responsible action to manage and protect the Philippines&#x27; sites and landscapes of geological significance and putting regulations into force,” she said.</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DN9qeg9EgZc?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>UNESCO National Commission Secretary General Ivan Henares urged the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Local Government of Bohol to look into possible violations in the construction of a resort at the foot of Chocolate Hills.</p>

UNESCO National Commission Secretary General Ivan Henares urged the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Local Government of Bohol to look into possible violations in the construction of a resort at the foot of Chocolate Hills.

UNESCO commission seeks probe on Chocolate Hills resort's possible violations

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UNESCO commission seeks probe on Chocolate Hills resort's possible violations

Jose Carretero,

ABS-CBN News

Published March 14, 2024 05:18 PM PHT

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Updated March 14, 2024 07:13 PM PHT

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