By Arabella Asis
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) raided a cafe inside a cave in Sitio Langub, Barangay Baganihan in Davao City over the weekend.
Authorities discovered severed damaged limestones that are two million years old, while several furniture and electrical configurations were also found inside the cave.
“Halos lahat nasira na talaga and even ang mga ilaw na nilagay naka-affect sa normal na formation ng stalactite and stalagmite, pwede ma-alter ang chemical sa tubig na na-form,” DENR Mines and Geosciences Bureau chief geologist Beverly Mae Brevante said.
According to DENR, the cafe operated without a permit.
It also violated Republic Act No. 9072 of the “National Caves and Cave Resources Management and Protection Act”.
Meanwhile, the National Commission on Indigenous People in the region is also muling over pressing charges against the management of the cafe for violating laws on ancestral domains.
The manager of the cafe was arrested, but the owner has yet to be named. – with reports from Clodet Loreto/PTV Davao-ag
