Demolition starts at Alona
AMONG 13 RESORTS AFFECTED. Demolition team starts tearing down structures at resorts in the Alona beach area following non-issuance of TRO from the court. Though some resorts have complied with the EO issued on the 20-meter salvage zone, some are undergoing demolition which has started after the weekend. Foto DANNY REYES
Heading towards becoming moot and academic, no Temporary Restraining Order came out of the court over the weekend while some resort owners along Alona Beach seeking for it already started complying with the governor's executive order on the removal of structures within the 20-meter salvage zone.
PNP Prov'l Director Edgardo Ingking dispatched policemen to secure the safety of the members of the demolition team.
Mayor Alcala identified the 13 affected establishments as: Atlantis, Playa Blanca, Lost Horizon, Trudis Place, Aquatica Water Resort, Alona Sea Side, Alona Beach, Isis Bungalows, Casanova Beach, Alona Kew, Bohol Divers Resort, Oops Bar and Genesis Dive Shop.
Provincial Legal Officer Handel Lagunay expressed optimism that the provincial government will resolve the issue sooner as some of the 13 resorts that were sent notices of violation and demolition on May 15, had already complied.
Charlotte Resort, for instance, had reportedly removed their structures and moved them away from the salvage zone, while Genesis Dive Shop expressed willingness to transfer their structures at the salvage zone to the rear portion of their resort.
In fact, they had even started processing documents for building permits to implement the changes, Lagunay said.
Panglao Municipal Engineer Rogelio Bunao and Panglao Mayor Benedicto Alcala, for their part, assured the resort owners that the municipal government will issue building permits to construction works that prove relevant in compliance to Governor Erico Aumentado's Executive Order 13.
Charlotte and Genesis were among the 13 resort owners along Alona Beach, led by Paz Trotin of Bohol Diver's Resort, that had sought a court action in March last year to stop Panglao Mayor Benedicto Alcala from causing demolition of the structures.
After the provincial government issued, another notice of violation on May 15, the resorts owners filed a reiterative motion for the court to issue a TRO or status quo order to stop the eyed demolition.
The Provincial Legal Office opposed the issuance of a TRO, considering that human activities facilitated by these structures within the 20-meter salvage zone lengthened the exposure of Alona Beach to further degradation.
Lagunay explained that the provincial government aims to restore the white sands and rehabilitate the shorelines along Alona Beach by protecting them from erosion, as a way of implementing Article 51 of the Water Code of the Philippines which provides for the removal of structures within the 20-meter salvage zone.
Lagunay has also updated the public through the weekly program, Governor's Report, Friday about the marathon hearings that ran from June 1-4, and the ocular inspection that RTC Judge Fernando Fuentes III conducted on Thursday noon.
Fuentes personally checked the location of the survey marker that DENR had placed to delineate the 20-meter salvage zone and determine the types of structures there.
The ocular inspection and the proceedings of the hearings were expected to help Judge Fuentes decide on whether to issue a TRO or not. Saturday came, but no TRO came out. On the other hand, Lagunay also said that another establishment, the Casa Nova Resort, had reportedly filed another move to stop the demolition of structures within the salvage zone or environmental protection zone, but the provincial government still has to receive an official notice on this.
The demolition job immediately generated appreciation from the Alona Beach Community Association, Inc.
In a signed statement, DM Ballie, president of the association congratulated the mayor for finally implementing the law.
He said "we look forward for the clearing of the beach front and most especially the structures blocking the beach front from Aquatica corner to Seaquest Divers, as this will allow the entry of tankers needed to undertake the cleaning of septic tanks in the resorts and provide access during emergencies."
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