By Bohol Chronicle
At the risk of being seen as a political move, provincial lawmakers on Tuesday assured they will pursue an inquiry into the drastic plunge in revenues from the operation of the Chocolate Hills Complex in the town of Carmen.
This was bared by Third District Board Member Godofreda Tirol on Tuesday with “Inyong Alagad†in reaction to a public uproar over her privileged speech questioning the drop in revenues of the Chocolate Hills Complex, of which the provincial government is entitled a 30-percent sharing.
Station dyRD’s lines ran hot with reactions from listeners while Tirol was being interviewed – some demanding an explanation from the Carmen officialdom.
However, repeated attempts to interview Carmen Mayor Conchita Delos Reyes, Municipal Administrator Atty. Eliezar Cagol and Chocolate Hills Complex Manager Narciso Toribio failed.
Calls on the landline and mobile phones of Mayor Delos Reyes and Cagol were not answered while Toribio admitted over “Inyong Alagad†that much as he wanted to answer the queries, a “gag order†had been issued by the mayor herself saying that all questions will be answered by either Delos Reyes or the municipal administrator.
Several suggestions were made to Tirol during the interview by well-meaning radio listeners. Among which was the turnover of the complex management to the provincial government.
One caller offered that Capitol should assign an accountant and auditor for the complex since this is the only remaining economic enterprise unit which the provincial government has remaining interest.
Another listener suggested that the Chocolate Hills Complex should be bidded out to private investors and be handled by professionals in managing tourism-related businesses.
Tirol said that while the province owns only 30-percent of the enterprise, it can always question the operations of the complex.
According to tourist transport operators who were closely monitoring the management of the complex, private businesses who were driven out of the complex may have caused the income to decrease since these businesses were contributing 20-percent of their income as rental to the municipal government of Carmen.
Instead of the 20-percent rental income being included in the complex’s overall revenues, these businesses are now required to pay business permits which directly goes to the municipal government.
Tirol expressed disbelief that despite claims of increasing tourist arrivals in the province, the income of the Choco complex has declined.
For the past 5 years, the income from the complex has consistently climbed by 50% to 70% while this year, it registered a drop to -16%.
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