By JIGGER J. JERUSALEM
Correspondent

WITH the decision of a local court to lift the writ of prohibitory injunction granted to the owner of a resort hotel in Mambajao town, Camiguin, a local government official there said there is no reason for the establishment to operate anymore.

Camiguin Gov. Jurdin Jesus Romualdo said the court ruling upheld his order to close Bahay Bakasyunan sa Camiguin (BBC) for alleged violation of environmental laws.

BBC is located in Barangay Balbagon, Mambajao, and is considered as one of the most prestigious hotels in Camiguin.

In 2019, BBC was ordered closed by Romualdo, who was then the mayor of Mambajao, for alleged violation of the Revised Ecological Solid Wastes Management Ordinance of Mambajao, the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, and the Sanitation Code.

Romualdo said he based his order on the report submitted by the Mambajao municipal health office and the Environmental Management Bureau in Region 10 that BBC violated environmental laws with its alleged “improper disposal of liquid waste” and “the disposal of their [BBC] biodegradable was scattered and dumped in an open space.”

The report was signed by Dr. Angeline Paulma, the municipal health officer of Mambajao.

The alleged violations prompted the municipal government to order BBC’s closure.

In response, BBC, through its owner Marie Suzette Good, filed a a motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) and eventually, was granted a WPI.

Good alleged that Romualdo acted without or beyond his jurisdiction or with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack of jurisdiction when he ordered BBC’s closure.

The BBC owner also alleged that she was denied due process due to the swift closure order issued by Romualdo, when he was still the mayor of Mambajao.

But in his Jan. 17, 2020 order, Judge Bonifacio Macabaya of the Regional Trial Court Branch 28 based in Mambajao said that “BBC was not denied due process.”

Macabaya said the BBC was sent a notice of violation, which the hotel management responded in writing, adding that “BBC was, therefore, granted the right to be heard, and availed of that right.”

On the allegation that Romualdo acted without or beyond his jurisdiction or with grave abuse of discretion, Macabaya stated that “the Court finds that the respondent acted within the scope of his authority granted by law as the Municipal Mayor of Mambajao when he issued the Closure Order.”

The court said the issuance of the order by Romualdo “was not attended by grave abuse of discretion; and that the BBC was not denied due process. The petition, in this case, is therefore without merit and must fall.”

Romualdo said BBC must be closed for good now that the court has upheld his closure order.

“They were given the chance to comply with the environmental laws and do something about the violations,” but instead, the BBC management filed cases against him.