BOHOL Gov. Erico Aris Aumentado and 68 other officials have been suspended for six months over the controversial resort built in the middle of three Chocolate Hills.

In an announcement from the provincial capitol on Tuesday, Aumentado said he, mayors, former and incumbent officials, village officials, and regional directors were handed preventive suspensions from the Office of the Ombudsman over cases filed over the Captain's Peak Garden and Resort in the famous Chocolate Hills.

"Myself and 68 other officials, former and current, were given a preventive suspension for six months," he told a shocked crowd in Cebuano.

He denied that he was involved in the construction of the controversial resort.

Aumentado, who broadcast his announcement on his Facebook page, said he received the order on Tuesday morning.

The governor said an inquiry into the construction of the resort was still ongoing in the Senate and Congress and that the Bohol Provincial Board also conducted its investigation.

The governor urged his fellow government employees in the capitol to be fair and faithful in their duties while he is away. "Please take care of our promises to the people, and we shall continue serving behind this great test that we are facing," he wrote on his Facebook page.

The Captain's Peak Garden and Resort in the Chocolate Hills area sparked outrage over its encroachment on the country's national treasure.

The Chocolate Hills National Monument is designated a National Geological Monument and a protected landscape by Unesco.