MANILA – Six resort operators in Boracay Island and a handful of local officials in Malay, Aklan were charged before the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The Environmental Crime Division of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) accused them of unlawful occupation or destruction of forestlands in the island resort.
Among the respondents to the five cases the NBI lodged were Denichi Boracay Corp., Correos Internacionale, Inc., Seven Seas Boracay Properties, Inc., Boracay Tanawin Properties, Inc., Boracay Island West Cove Management Philippines, and Yooringa Corp.
Malay officials including Mayor Ciceron Cawaling and former mayor John Yap were also named as respondents.
The resort operators committed the unlawful occupation/destruction on varying dates – December 2016 (Denichi), January 2014 (Correos and Seven Seas), April 20, 2007 to present (Boracay Tanawin), September 2014 (West Cove), and from 1999 to present (Yooringa) – the NBI said.
Aside from unlawfully occupying the forestlands, Seven Seas was also charged with encroachment on wetland.
Cawaling was included in four of the five complaints while Yap was in three.
Also named in the complaints were the municipal engineer, building officials and the municipal assessor.
Specifically the respondents were accused of violating the Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, the Local Government Code of 1991, and the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998.
The charges stemmed from the complaint that the Boracay Interagency Task Force – the body assigned by government to reverse the poor environmental condition of the island – filed at the NBI.
They were lodged at the DOJ more than two months into the temporary closure and rehabilitation of the famed island.
The island is scheduled to reopen on Oct. 26./PN
