Pagudpud resort won't remove shore structures

PRESERVING PAGUDPUD’S BEAUTY. The foreshore area of the Blue Lagoon located AT Barangay Balaoi, Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte is now clear of mushrooming cottages except for one resort owner who refuse to remove his movable cottages in view of a pending foreshore lease application subject for approval by the DENR. (Lei Adriano)

By Leilanie G. Adriano

Staff Reporter

PAGUDPUD, Philippines—Most of the cottages and other structures built on the foreshore area surrounding the “Blue Lagoon,” the town’s favorite tourist destination in Barangay Balaoi, have been removed, enabling tourists to enjoy an unobstructed view of the white sand and clear waters of Pagudpud.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) required resort owners in January to take down permanent structures, including cottages that have been built on the foreshore areas of Balaoi.

The foreshore is a portion of the beach which spans 20 meters from the seashore. DENR Department Order No. 34, which was issued in 1999, states that a foreshore is “part of the shore which is alternately covered and uncovered by the ebb and flow of the tide.”

But one resort owner refused to remove more than 30 cottages standing on a 2,000-square meter strip of land, saying that these structures are covered by a foreshore lease application pending approval at the DENR.

“I am not violating any law and I follow regulations. I have documents to show,” said retired Philippine Air Force Col. Ricardo Nolasco Jr., owner of Hannah’s Beach Resort and Convention Center.

Nolasco had also complained to Samuel Peñafiel, DENR Ilocos regional executive director, that the directive issued by Juan de los Reyes, Ilocos provincial environment and natural resources officer, to clear the foreshore areas of Balaoi was “Abusive, unlawful and prejudicial to the rights and interests of Hannah’s and other resort owners in the area.”

De los Reyes inspected the area at the start of the year and had told resort owners that they had violated foreshore regulations for constructing picnic huts and a zipline operated by Hannah’s.

The directive covered 39 resorts and home stay operations at the beach.

Beginning with 10 villas in March 2008, Hannah’s resort now maintains about 30 villas, private pools, a restaurant, a watch tower, a theme park and the zipline overlooking the Blue Lagoon.

Nolasco, also president of the Air Materiel Wing Savings and Loan Association Inc., said Hannah’s had also submitted an application for a permit to the community environment and natural resources office (Cenro) in neighboring Bangui town on Nov. 11, 2013.

Asked about Nolasco’s objections, De los Reyes said: “We have done our part. It’s now up to the local government of Pagudpud to implement [the foreshore regulations].”

The DENR guidebook said: “The Philippine foreshore is one area where rapid development is taking place.”

“With progress comes the various problems: environmental pollution, conversion of mangroves into other uses, illegal reclamation, squatting and many more,” it said.