QuestionsQuestions (PROCLAMATION NO. 333)
It amends the coverage/boundary of the Chocolate Hills National Monument (CHNM) by excluding certain lands from CHNM while retaining specific buffer areas, subject to actual ground delineation and survey.
Proclamation No. 333 amends Proclamation No. 1037 (July 1, 1997), which established the CHNM covering approximately 1,776 hills and surrounding areas in specified municipalities of Bohol as a natural monument.
It excludes all alienable and disposable flat and rolling lands below 18% in slope from the coverage of CHNM, subject to actual ground delineation.
It provides that those lands 20 meters from the baseline of every hill outward shall be retained as part of CHNM to serve as a draw back (buffer).
It means the final extent of areas included/excluded by the proclamation will be determined through on-the-ground survey and delineation, rather than solely by descriptions on maps.
Annex A contains the Technical Description of the CHNM and forms an integral part of the proclamation.
To fund the actual survey and delineation on the ground required to finalize and confirm the areas covered by the proclamation.
They revert to their original status and may be disposed of in accordance with pertinent laws, rules, and regulations.
No. Regardless of the existence of prior private rights, no activity that will alter, mutilate, deface, or destroy the hills—such as quarrying—is allowed.
CHNM is under the administrative jurisdiction, supervision, and control of the DENR, which coordinates with national agencies and LGUs to maintain and protect the chocolate hills natural features for tourism, scientific, educational, and recreational purposes.
The approved and/or proposed CLUPs of the municipalities where CHNM hills are located must be revised to be consistent with Proclamation No. 333.
The CHNM PAMP must take into consideration the municipalities’ CLUPs to ensure coherence between protected area management and local planning.
Carmen, Batuan, Sagbayan, Bilar, Valencia, and Sierra Bullones, Province of Bohol.
All proclamations and other existing issuances inconsistent with Proclamation No. 333 are repealed or modified accordingly.
It was signed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, with the Executive Secretary signing as required. This indicates it is an exercise of presidential authority pursuant to powers vested by law to establish or amend a natural monument.
The exclusion removes specific land categories from CHNM coverage, reverting them to their original status, but the protection rule still applies to the hills that remain within CHNM—prohibiting any activity that would alter or destroy those hills, regardless of prior private rights.