Malay exec, Boracay developer buck DENR complaint
A big property developer and Mayor Ciceron Cawaling of Malay town are bucking a graft complaint filed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in connection with the moratorium on construction activities on Boracay Island.
Deolito Alvarez, legal counsel of the Cebu-based J. King and Sons Company, Inc., said they have not received copy of the complaint filed by the DENR before the Office of the Ombudsman last Thursday.
But based on news reports, Alvarez said the complaint is "nonsense."
"Secretary (Jose "Lito") Atienza is probably misinformed in filing the case," Alvarez said in a telephone interview.
Alvarez denied that his client, which is developing the 450-room Boracay Crown Regency Hotel and Convention Center in Barangay Balabag, has violated any law or ordinance.
"We were given the building and other permits by the local government unit even before the moratorium was implemented," said Alvarez.
In a four-page complaint, the DENR accused Cawaling, engineer Elizer Casidsid and the board of directors of J. King and Sons headed by Rafael King of violating Republic Act 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) R.A. 6713 (Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Government Officials and Employees) and Executive Order 92 (Administrative Code of 1987).
The DENR alleged in its complaint that Cawaling and the municipal government gave undue advantage to the developer in issuing building, electrical, sanitary and plumbing permits despite a moratorium on construction projects on the island.
The agency pointed out in its complaint that the Malay municipal council had passed a resolution declaring the moratorium on construction in Boracay on September 26, 2007 but was signed by Cawaling only in October 24, 2007.
The implementing order was issued by Cawaling on January 2, 2008.
The DENR said that despite the municipal resolution, building official Elizer Casidsid issued building and other permits to the developer on October 10, 2007.
Alvarez, however, said the powers to issue permits and to revoke these lie solely in the local government unit.
He said this also holds true for the declaration and implementation of a moratorium on construction projects,
The DENR is committing a "clear encroachment on the authority of a local government unit under the Local Government Code," said Alvarez.
He also refuted the claim of the DENR that the hotel is being constructed on a 11,000-square meter property that is considered a wetland and a no-build zone.
The DENR has blamed the construction on wetlands as the leading cause of flooding on the island that have worsened in recent months following continued rains.
"An ocular inspection would prove that the property is not a wetland. And the history of the tax declaration on the property would also show that it has never been classified or categorized as a wetland," said Alvarez.
Cawaling could not be reached for comment at his office or through his mobile phone. But his executive assistant, Edgardo Sancho, said they will answer the complaint when they have received a copy of it.
"We have not violated any law or ordinance and we have implemented the moratorium passed by municipal council," said Sancho in a telephone interview.