A viral social media post that depicted the current state of road works being done in Cambuhawe, Balamban has not only attracted the attention of netizens but also of the nameless personalities who rode on the hype and circulated a petition for its stoppage.
The road works are being done by DPWH as a preparatory work for the construction of the Capitol’s replica building, not in Cambuhawe but in a neighboring barangay.
Gov. Gwen Garcia, in a press conference at the Capitol on April 2, said that the provincial government has not yet started any actual work on the replica building as it has yet to procure properties in the area.
The nameless personalities alleged that the civil works are an “assault on Cebu’s mountains” which serve to “protect critical watershed” and the impact of natural calamities.
However, environmental lawyer and Capitol consultant Benjamin Cabrido Jr. called this petition reckless and ill-informed whose ulterior motive was just to ride on Bohol’s Chocolate Hills issue.
The lawyer said that had the petitioners did due diligence, they would have found out that the Cambuhawe area is not included, and is not within the buffer zone, of the Central Cebu National Park, a protected area which covers 10 barangays in Balamban and 7 in Cebu City.
The Central Cebu National Park, Buhisan Dam, Mananga Watershed, Kotkot-Lusuran Watershed, and the Sudlon National Park form the Central Cebu Protected Landscape which is a protected area.
ALIENABLE AND DISPOSABLE
For his part, Atty. Rory Jon Sepulveda, another Capitol consultant, explained why private developments done amidst Bohol’s Chocolate Hills are violative of laws and why the road works in Cambuhawe, Balamban are not.
“This should not be placed side by side with Bohol. Bohol is a duly proclaimed protected area,” Atty. Sepulveda said, referring to the Chocolate Hills being the country’s first Global Geo-Park as declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
“That (Balamban) area is alienable and disposable, private lands, titled properties,” the lawyer added, saying that development is generally allowed in alienable and disposable lands, while it is generally disallowed in protected areas.
Alienable and disposable lands, like the Cambuhawe lots, are public lands that have been classified and declared as such and are available for disposition.
In the end, he said, the economic gains of the road network being built in the area will prevail over the apparent destruction of the environment, which will also be mitigated and rehabilitated by contractors pursuant to environmental laws.
“Lain-lain man kada Protected Area. Kon unsay purpose sa pag-protect ana niya, mao sab na. Sa Chocolate Hills, beauty man imong gi-protect diha. Kani (Balamban), ang watershed sab imong gi-protect diha. Wala man ni siya maghugaw-hugaw sa watershed,” Atty. Cabrido said. | IPA