SALVADOR BENEDICTO – Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. must not have been fed the right information because the local government of Salvador Benedicto does not issue building permits since this is outside its jurisdiction.

Salvador Benedicto Mayor Jose Max Ortiz was reacting to the statement of the governor that he could be held liable for issuing permits to the owners of structures within the North Negros Natural Park that were served cease-and-desist orders.

Marañon had said that if the restaurant is within the NNNP and has no permit, it should not be there.

“I do  not know if the good  governor is well informed of the facts of the case. The information he was fed might not be accurate,” Ortiz told reporters Sunday.

Ortiz said that as far as the NNNP area is concern, it is the Protected Area Management Board or the Department of Environment and Natural Resources that can issue a building permit and not the local government unit.

“We issue a mayor's permit, regardless of who the owner is, so that the local government can generate income from the commercial establishments in the  locality,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz said that the serving of a CDO on a newly operated restaurant by the DENR last week was arbitrary and without due process.

The Mountain View Resort Bar and Restaurant, owned by a certain Luna Villaluz of Discovery Boracay and Travel Tours Restaurant, was among the six establishments served  with a CDO  by the DENR after the municipal council passed a unanimous resolution “declaring  all structures in the NNNP as nuisance or illegal.”

Ortiz scored the members of the municipal council for passing and approving the resolution  without thinking, practically all the residences of the councilors and their respective families are located within the NNNP, except for Councilor Nehemiah de la Cruz.

“It's like they picked up a stone and hit their heads with it.”  Ortiz said.

Ortiz said that at least 80 to 90 percent of the populace are occupying the NNNP and will face dislocation if all the structures within the NNNP will be demolished and the residents will be ejected because only one third of the land in the locality is titled.

The titled area is already occupied by the six subdivisions  that invested in the locality, he said.

What will happen to Salvador Benedicto town if all the  resorts and commercial establishments here are closed down? Ortiz asked.

There will be strong opposition, not only from the structure owners but also from the indigenous people, Ortiz said. They will only act if there is any drastic move by the DENR to remove their houses since they have no relocation site, he said.

“The cure  they are proposing is worse than the disease itself,” he said.

Ortiz said the move of DENR is creating more problems than  providing a solution to it. “If they make a drastic move, it will create a chaotic situation,” he added.

The solution is to create a technical working  group composed of the local government unit, the provincial government,  agencies concerned like the DENR, PAMB and all stakeholders including other stakeholders like the indigenous people, Ortiz said.

Ortiz said there is also a need to look at the historical background of the municipality, which he claimed is somehow similar to that island of Boracay, where there were structures already standing in the area even before it was declared as alienable and disposable land.

Even the Supreme Court said demolition of these structures is not a solution but a law should be passed exempting them, he said.

Ortiz said he will submit a site development plan to the PENRO. On the basis of the site development plan, they will develop the 200 hectares townsite.

Meanwhile, Ortiz said he is not running for mayor because he was forced to, but he is running for a mission after seeing the plight of his constituents and because he is needed by his people.

As an independent candidates, he and his partymates will pledge not to buy votes during the 2016 May elections at the Bacolod Public Plaza this week. They want to eliminate vote-buying, he said.

“Let's see what money can do against love,” Ortiz said.*CGS

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