Preserving a geological treasure

In September last year, a provincial board member of Bohol had asked the Department of Environment and Natural Resources
to stop the construction of private structures within the Chocolate Hills area. The DENR finally heeded the call only yesterday,
ordering the temporary closure of a resort after a video went viral showing swimming pools, slides and guest cottages built at
the foot of some of the limestone mounds.
The Captain’s Peak Garden and Resort in Sagbayan town invites guest to see the Chocolate Hills up close. The Protected Area
Management Board of the DENR allows private owners in the 50-square-kilometer area that straddles three Bohol towns to
develop their properties for tourism. PAMB guidelines for property development, however, are reportedly silent on whether
swimming pools and slides are allowed so close to the mounds.
On June 18, 1988, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization declared the Chocolate Hills a National
Geological Monument, “in recognition of its scientific value and geomorphic uniqueness.” It is the third in the Philippines to
receive that recognition from UNESCO.
While likening the conical hills that turn chocolate brown during the dry season to similar geological formations in Java,
Indonesia, UNESCO describes the Chocolate Hills, estimated to number 1,776 mounds, as “more aesthetically extensive.”
In May last year, UNESCO adopted a resolution declaring Bohol island part of a global network of 195 geoparks in 48 countries
– the first such recognition in the Philippines. In adopting the resolution, UNESCO declared that the island “features wondrous,
not-yet-popular karstic geosites like caves, sinkholes, among others.” UNESCO also cited Bohol’s “400 years of rich history
and cultural traditions in harmony with its unique geological treasures.”
Those treasures are in danger of looking like cheap, fake trinkets if tourism development around the limestone hills is not
properly managed. The PAMB guidelines for private property development were released, however, before the UNESCO
recognition of Bohol as a global geopark.
The people of Bohol, and the rest of the country, have a stake in protecting this unique natural attraction. A delicate balance
must be struck between private property owners’ rights and the need to preserve a national treasure.

The Chocolate Hills Natural Monument is a National Geological Monument, a part of the Bohol Island UNESCO
Global Geopark, and nominated as a UNESCO Heritage Site
On March 6, social media content creator Ren The Adventurer posted an aerial video of Bohol’s Chocolate Hills, famed for its
1,776 hills that are almost the same size and shape.
Ren The Adventurer’s aerial video, with a caption in Filipino that says “Resort in the middle of the Chocolate Hills,” shows a
resort – complete with a pool, slides, and two cottages – right smack in a space between three of the famed hills.
The story of the resort – identified by Ren The Adventurer as Captain’s Peak Resort in the municipality of Sagbayan, Bohol –
went viral after netizens shared the video. One netizen said the resort was an “eyesore,” while another netizen said the resort
was “destroying” the Chocolate Hills. (READ: DENR says viral Chocolate Hills resort continued operating without ECC)
Julieta Sablas, Captain’s Peak Resort administrator, told Rappler that they “did not touch the Chocolate Hills” and their
measurement of the plane where the resort was located was “within regulation.”: However, Sablas admitted that they were still
in the process of obtaining an environmental compliance certificate for the resort.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said the controversial resort was built within the protected
zone of the Chocolate Hills and slapped with a closure order in 2023 but kept operating. Sablas confirmed that they had received
the order but that they were appealing the decision.

On July 1, 1997, former president Fidel V. Ramos declared the Chocolate Hills Natural Monument a protected area by
designating it a National Geological Monument and a Protected Landscape for its unique geological formations.
The Chocolate Hills are kegelkarsts (cone karst), research by Peter Urich published in the Geographical Journal said.
The United States National Parks Service describes karsts as a type of landscape where sinkholes, sinking streams, caves,
springs, and other characteristic features are created by the dissolving of the bedrock, often composed of soluble rocks like
limestone, marble, and gypsum.
An academic paper by Richard Aquino of the University of Canterbury describes the Chocolate Hills as
“conical marine limestone hills.”
In recognition of its scientific value and geomorphic uniqueness, the Philippine government declared the Chocolate Hills as a
National Geological Monument on July 18, 1988, the UNESCO website said.
According to the DENR, geological monuments are sites that “show outstanding features or processes” considered by geologists
and other scientists as worthy of conservation. (READ: DENR declares uplifted coastal areas in Bohol as ‘geological
monument’)
Ramos issued Proclamation No. 1037 declaring Chocolate Hills as a Natural Monument to “protect and maintain its natural
beauty and to provide restraining mechanisms for inappropriate exploitation.”
The proclamation specifically says that it covers the areas “within, around, and surrounding” the geological formations.
On February 26, 2003, former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Proclamation No. 333, amending the proclamation
that Ramos signed. Proclamation No. 333 excluded “alienable and disposable flat lands” between the hills that were covered by
the previous proclamation.
The Chocolate Hills National Monument is also covered by Republic Act No. 11038, also known as the Expanded National
Integrated Areas Protected System (NIPAS) Act.
The DENR also submitted the Chocolate Hills as a UNESCO Heritage Site on May 16, 2006, and it is currently in the
organization’s Tentative List – an inventory of properties that a country intends to nominate as a UNESCO Heritage Site.
The Chocolate Hills National Monument, as well as the entire Bohol Island, is also the only UNESCO Global Geopark in the
country.
According to UNESCO, these global geoparks are “single, unified geographical areas where sites and landscapes of
international geological significance are managed with a holistic concept of protection, education, and sustainable
development.”