BOHOL Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado and 30 other officials were ordered reinstated after the Office of the Ombudsman lifted the six-month suspension earlier imposed on them over the controversial resort built at the Chocolate Hills.
Aumentado confirmed this in a radio interview on Friday, August 2, 2024, saying he will report to work on Monday, August 5.
He said he has not received yet a copy of the Ombudsman’s order lifting his suspension, but his lawyers in Manila told him about it.
Aumentado said he will still wait for guidance from the Department of the Interior and Local Government, but stressed that based on the Ombudsman’s order, a digital copy of which was sent to him, his reinstatement date is July 31, 2024.
“Magpaabot lang pud mi sa order nga ibalik na ta pagka governor (I will wait for the reinstatement order),” he said.
The order, dated July 31, 2024, was signed by Ombudsman Samuel Martires.
Aside from Aumentado, also ordered reinstated were James Diolan, Ian Bernadez, Emmanuel Jumawid, Maria Fe Jala, Flaviano Pacatang, Rolando Pataca, Gerardo Salces, Eugene Cabrera, Ricardo Francisco Toribio, Ma. Victoria Abrera, Marlou Salazar, Jesus Zamora Jr., Cecilia Tesio, Nelito Gallogo, Querino Aparicio, Gregorio Digamon, Perfecto Buro, Antonino Jumawid, Elizabeth Pace, Eugeniano Ibarra, Dionisio Neil Balite, Michael Doria, Simplicio Maestrado Jr., Norman Palacio, Ranulfo Maligmat, Angel Enriquez, John Titus Vistal, Edilberto Paradela, Paquito Melicor Jr., and Gilbert Gonzales.
Not on the list were Sagbayan Mayor Ricardo Suarez and Carmen Mayor Ricardo Francisco Toribio.
Aumentado said Suarez and Toribio might not have filed a motion for reconsideration on their suspension.
Now that he is back in office, Aumentado said that he has to sit down with the provincial department heads to review the projects that are ongoing and have been implemented, noting that he was away for about two months.
The suspension was ordered in May.
“Akong reviewhon kung unsay mga nahitabo, ang mga ongoing and implemented projects kay two months baya ko nawala (I will review what had been implemented, as well as the ongoing projects because I was away for two months),” he told radio dyRD Bohol.
The preventive suspension stemmed from the establishment of Captain’s Peak Garden and Resort built alongside the Unesco-declared Global Geopark in the town of Sagbayan.
Chocolate Hills is a Unesco World Heritage Site and a protected area under Proclamation 1037, series of 1997, and Republic Act 7586, or the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 1992. (LMY)