DENR files charges vs Aklan mayor

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) yesterday charged before the Office of the Ombudsman the mayor and municipal engineer of Malay, Aklan and a developer for defying the prevailing moratorium on construction on the resort island of Boracay.

In a press conference, DENR Secretary Lito Atienza said they filed the case against Mayor Ceciron Cawaling and engineer Elizer Casidsid for “miserably (failing) to control the construction frenzy” in Boracay despite the moratorium imposed by the municipal government through a resolution which Cawaling himself had signed.

“We filed the case against Cawaling for abuse of authority. This is the first of such case that the DENR has filed against a local official,” Atienza told reporters.

“We have exhausted all possible means to let him do his task as protector of the environment, as mandated by the law, (but) illegal construction and reclamation of mangrove and wetland areas persisted in Boracay,” he added.

Based on the four-page DENR complaint, Cawaling allegedly gave “undue advantage” to J. King & Sons Company Inc. (J. King), the developer of a multimillion-peso project on the island, as he issued building permits for the project even when the municipal resolution on a six-month construction moratorium has already been enacted.

Cawaling issued the permits to the developer on Oct. 10 last year, while the resolution was enacted four days earlier.

The DENR even raised suspicion over Cawaling’s signing of the resolution only on Oct. 24 last year.

The DENR said the six-month moratorium is supposed to be implemented from Jan. 2 to July 2.