Bohol gov, 68 others suspended

The Office of the Ombudsman has preventively suspended Bohol Gov. Aris Aumentado and 68 others including town mayors for six months without pay in connection with the investigation into the controversial construction of Captain's Peak Resort at the foot of Chocolate Hills.

- RIC OBEDENCIO

The ombudsman field investigation office (FIO), as complainant, "charges public respondents with grave misconduct, gross neglect of duty and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service relative to the construction, operation and expansion of Captain's Peak Resort in Canmano, Sagbayan, Bohol, an establishment nestled in the middle of the iconic Chocolate Hills National Monument (CHNM), a declared protected in Bohol."

The resort has no Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) and Special Use Agreement in Protected Areas (SAPA) issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources' Environmental Management Bureau (EMB).

The ombudsman FIO said that the "public respondents acted with manifest partiality, evident bad faith, gross inexcusable negligence and committed gross violations" of the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 1992 and the expanded NIPAS Act of 2018.