In a letter dated March 3, CCENRO head Editha Peros urged Archival to act on a City Council resolution seeking a CDO against the upscale residential developer for allegedly violating two city ordinances, based on an investigation conducted by CCENRO and the Office of the Building Official (OBO).
Peros said her office acknowledged the concerns raised in City Council Resolution No. 17-2317-2026, noting that enforcing environmental requirements such as tree-cutting and special hauling permits falls within the mandate of the CCENRO.
“The issuance of a cease-and-desist order to halt ongoing project activities due to such violations is a function that falls within the jurisdiction of the Office of the City Mayor. Hence, your office is the appropriate body to issue the Cease-and-Desist Order being sought by the Sangguniang Panlungsod,” the letter read.
The council passed the resolution on Feb. 3, requesting the OBO to issue a CDO against Monterrazas for failing to secure special hauling and tree-cutting permits, in violation of City Ordinance No. 2115 (requiring a permit to extract, take, and dispose of materials) and City Ordinance No. 2623 (Earth-Balling, Cutting, and Removal of Trees Ordinance of Cebu City).
Florante Catalan, OBO head, however, endorsed the resolution to the CCENRO, which in turn brought the matter to the attention of the Office of the Mayor.
Lack of transparency
Juan Pablo Yao, CCENRO senior environmental management specialist, said in a phone interview that the request for a CDO was meant to halt operations after violations were discovered during an inspection.
“If there is an existing CDO from DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources), that would suffice. We only did our job,” he said.
He pointed out that when they made their report in January, they had not been informed of any CDO since the DENR had not provided them a copy.
Councilor Joel Garganera, chair of the City Council committee on environment, said the CDO issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) against Monterrazas had not been lifted, but the city government had yet to receive any report on the investigation conducted by the agency’s composite team.
“There are reports of earth-moving activities in the area, which paved the way for the CCENRO’s CDO endorsement to the chief executive. What is lacking is transparency on the part of the DENR and the private company,” he said.
Monterrazas de Cebu is a hillside luxury residential development nestled in the mountains of Guadalupe, about a thousand feet above sea level, overlooking Cebu and the islands of Bohol and Mactan.
Call for investigation
Public clamor to investigate the development intensified after the “unprecedented” flooding that inundated parts of Guadalupe and nearby villages during the onslaught of Typhoon “Tino" in November 2025.
The DENR later issued a CDO, citing several violations of Monterrazas’ Environmental Compliance Certificate.
Last December, the DENR filed administrative and criminal cases against the developer after its tree inventory showed that only 11 trees remained out of the documented 745 trees in the area — an allegation denied by the developer.
Ocular inspection
On Jan. 21, a joint team from the OBO and CCENRO conducted an ocular inspection at the site as directed by the council.
Based on drone shots and videos taken by the team, several heavy equipment units such as backhoes and trucks were observed at the site, despite claims by a representative of Monterrazas de Cebu that there had been no activity in the area due to the CDO issued by the DENR.
The team noted traces of earth-moving activity conducted across “a large area of extent (in hectares).”
“But due to the extensive earth-moving activity conducted at the site, as well as the removal of vegetation, rainwater runoff is expected to increase greatly,” the report said.
The report also noted ongoing earth-moving activities for the construction of retention ponds, which the Monterrazas representative said were allowed by the DENR.
No permit
The CCENRO team, however, noted that Monterrazas de Cebu had applied for a special hauling permit for only one residential building and not for the rest of the project, in violation of City Ordinance No. 2115.
“As per initial observation at the site, the volume of excavated minerals or earth materials is much greater compared to the volume that was backfilled for cut-and-fill. Therefore, hauling of minerals or earth materials from within the site to outside the site was likely carried out,” the report said.
As for the tree-cutting permit, the report said that while the project started years before the approval of the Earth-Balling, Cutting, and Removal of Trees Ordinance of Cebu City, the developer still needed to secure a tree-cutting permit for the recent developments in Monterrazas. —Ed: Corrie S. Narisma
Contributor
