For the past five years I had been visiting Bohol for so many reasons; it is not only one among the most visited province in the Philippines having the numerous beautiful sites which are of interest not only to local tourist but also to international as well, but it is also the province where some of our sister NGOs were located- the DISOP assisted organizations like the SWCF. While not a first timer in visiting this place, my fascination and deep appreciation to see the more than one thousand hills that spread over some of the towns of this Bohol Province especially within the plains of the Towns of Carmen going to Sagbayan. I kept wondering how this hills emerged and why these hills emerged only in Bohol. I am not so amazed about the tarzier since it is not true that it is only endemic in Bohol since even in our place in Leyte, tarziers trive in the wild but not yet in captivity.
While revisiting the place, I had a distinct observation about the Chocolate Hills. Not that it remained green and has not turned chocolate, but the changes that slowly engulfed some of the hills - the slowly growing vegetation which somehow affects the appearance of these hills. I never hesitated to ask our tour guide which accompanied us during our trip if the government has done something to correct these changes. He answered that there is a deadlock between the National Government through thre DENR and the Local Government Unit through the Provincial Tourism on how to deal this matter. DENR of course will protect these growing trees especially that the President has issued Presidential Proclamation banning illegal cutting of trees to support his NGP or the National Greening Program with main objective of planting billion of trees. If in case after few years and all of these hills will be blanketed by these different trees, we will also lost this UNESCO proclaimed natural heritage, and we will never see the beauty of this hills once more. I hope the action of the authority would favor what is best for everybody, and it can only be done through consultation of the many. After all, the voice of the people is the voice of God, let it be so.
