Bohol LGU, DENR feud over coastal survey

LOON, Bohol – Loon Mayor Dr. Lloyd Peter Lopez vows to stop the region’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-7) should the agency push through with its planned mojon placement at the disputed uplifted coastal area in this town.

This reaction came after the DENR’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) announced to media that it would conduct ground verification from July 21 to 24, 2015 on the uplifted coastal areas covering the towns of Loon and Maribojoc, Bohol.

Earlier, the coastal area, parts of which were uplifted by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that rocked Bohol in 2013, was declared as a “geological monument” by the DENR by virtue of Administrative Order No. 2015-08 issued by DENR Secretary Ramon JP Paje on May 14, 2015.

The department order declares the uplifted coastal areas as a geological monument to provide a legal framework for the recognition, preservation and protection of the uplifted coast, as well as encourage further researches and studies on the monument for the advancement of geosciences in the country.

In a press statement by the regional DENR office, MGB officials will place 236 monuments or “mojons” at the uplifted coastal area, which covers 137 hectares or 1.37 kilometers of coastline.

Geodetic engineers Emiliano Hormachuelos and Adriano Odal and chief geologist Al Emil Berador, with local assistants from Loon and Maribojoc, have been reported to lead the mojon placement starting Tuesday.

“Our position has not changed. We will stop at all cost any attempt to place mojons in our town,” Lopez told the Manila Bulletin in an interview.

He complained that the DENR has never communicated with him regarding this plan, which could trigger public chaos.