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News Top Stories Boracay hotel files graft case vs DENR chief
News Top Stories Boracay hotel files graft case vs DENR chief
| Boracay hotel files graft case vs DENR chief |
| Sunday, 25 May 2008 13:45 | ||||||
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Crying harassment, Crown Regency hotel chain owner Richard King accused Atienza and the officials of the DENR-Region 6 of conspiring with one another to prevent his firm, J. King and Sons Company, Inc., from pursuing the project. "For the past few days, we have become the target of malicious accusations by them," King lashed out during a press conference in Makati City on Wednesday. "But we have kept quiet because we don't want to downgrade ourselves to the level of grandstanding politicians, who are perennial liars. But I think it is now time to bring this issue to the public," he continued. King is set to file the charges next week before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas with officer-in-charge Regional Director Bienvenido Lipayon, provincial environment and natural resources officer Raul Lorilla and several others as co-respondents. Last week, the DENR sued King's company, Malay Mayor Ceciron Cawiling and municipal engineer Elizer Casidsid for allegedly breaching the moratorium on construction projects on the premiere island resort. The DENR also said that the construction of the hotel complex was without an environmental compliance certificate, noting that it did not approve the firm's application in view of the moratorium. On September 26, 2007, the municipal council enacted the moratorium, which was supposed to take effect for six months or until an environmental master plan of Boracay has been completed. However, King pointed out that the construction of Boracay Crown Regency Hotel and Convention Center was not covered by the moratorium, which was only approved on October 24, 2007 and implemented last January. His firm, King added, launched the construction project on July 26, 2007 with the endorsement of Tourism Secretary Ace Durano. According to the DENR, the 457-room condotel resort was being constructed on a reclaimed timberland and wetland in violation of environmental laws. But the hotel owner disputed this, presenting real property tax declarations that showed that the 16,000-square-meter hotel site was a coconut land as early as 1948. A certain Simplicio Gelito then owned the property. In 1974, a certain Rosario Garcia purchased the land, which was still classified as coconut land until 1998, when the local government reclassified it as a tourist and commercial zone. King also contested the claims of the DENR that it did not approve its environmental compliance certificate application filed on August 30, 2007. He showed a copy of an accomplished ECC application form, which he said was duly stamped by the Environmental Management Bureau. The stamp -- a notation saying that the ECC would be issued on or before October 10, 2007 -- merely suggested that its application has been accepted by the agency, he further noted. To further illustrate the supposed "conspiracy" between Atienza and other officials, King showed copies of the DENR's notice of adverse findings, which he said bore inconsistent dates and possibly forged signatures of Lipayon. The notice of adverse findings served to the company on February 11 ordered it to cease and desist from continuing its ongoing construction activities. "There are so many ongoing projects on the island, but we are being singled out," King lamented. He also suggested that the moratorium was pushed by the DENR in favor of other hotel owners, who could be threatened by the rise of his hotel complex, which boasts of a water park and a 2,800-square-meter swimming pool.
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