MikeLigalig.com

Bohol Sunday Post
June 24, 2007

For the umpteenth time, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) served a closure order on the Dumaluan Beach Resort in Panglao last Wednesday. And for the umpteenth time, it has not accomplished anything except to prove that this is not yet a government of laws but a government of men.

There is no need to elaborate on the basis for the closure order, it having been the object of numerous news items and opinion pieces in the past. Suffice it to say that the DENR, given the fact that the closure order has been issued from the highest level, should have enough basis to do so.

The DENR's bone of contention for serving the closure order is the resort's failure to accomplish an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) prior to its operation.

To most mortals, that is supposed to be a given before work on any project can actually commence, let alone operate.

But former Panglao Mayor Doloreich Dumaluan is not like most mortals. Despite this glaring deficiency on the part of his resort, Dumaluan has not only completed construction on his resort but it has actually been fully operational all this time.

In fact, notwithstanding the resolve of the DENR team that served the order last week, the resort continues to operate in full defiance of the law. Is the DENR really this helpless? Or to put it another way, is Dumaluan really this untouchable?

Of course, Dumaluan has arguments to justify his continued operation. He even has an explanation on why he deserves to be given an ECC and his gripes on why it has not been issued to him when he has processed his application a long time ago.

He is entitled to his own arguments. That is between the DENR and him to resolve.

The problem however is that the DENR and the provincial government have allowed Dumaluan to make a mockery of applicable laws.

Dumaluan is sending the wrong message to whoever feels aggrieved over perceived government harassment. He has set the example that the way to beat it is to file an application and not wait for it to be approved.

All he did was to go ahead with the project, operate it and insist on his version of the issue while laughing all the way to the bank. The strategy is simple: violate the rules and simply pay the fines later on.

Unfortunately, the government has not really done anything to discourage other would-be violators from following Dumaluan's example. By their sheer cowardice, the DENR and the provincial government has actually flirted with more such disobedience.

In effect, this experience teaches us that this government penalizes those who obey the rules while rewarding those who violate and disregard them. What a shame.

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