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Friday, March 29, 2024

13 sites now guarded areas

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The House of Representatives’ committee on natural resources has approved six bills declaring 13 sites in eight provinces as protected areas that are closed to commercial and large-scale exploitation.

The panel’s chairman, Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. of Dasmariñas City in Cavite, said the 13 would be added to a long list of watersheds, hills, mountains, parks, forest lands, and natural landscapes declared protected under Republic Act 11038, or the Expanded National Integrated Areas System Act of 2018.

He said most of these areas had been subjected to commercial use for decades and were now overexploited.

“We have to protect, regrow and preserve them for the benefit, enjoyment, and appreciation of future generations of Filipinos. For instance, watersheds, hills, and mountains are among our primary sources of water,” he said.

Barzaga added that the new protected sites covered a combined area of 332,456 hectares.

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The new areas proposed to be added to the ENIPAS list include Mt. Arayat in the town of Arayat in Pampanga.

Deputy Speaker and Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. of Pampanga’s third district, which covers Arayat, the mountain “is currently facing environmental challenges like illegal logging.” 

“If no action is taken, it is only a matter of time before Arayat degrades into an unrecoverable husk of landmass devoid of life. It could also become a natural hazard to people living within its periphery,” he said.

The 12 other additional protected areas are nine watersheds in Mindoro Occidental and Mindoro Oriental, a group of small islands in the town of Carles in Iloilo, the Tugbo watershed in the city of Masbate and the town of Mobo in Masbate, the Hinakpan mystical hills in Guihulangan, Negros Oriental, and the Tirad Pass landscape in Gregorio del Pilar in Quirino and the towns of Sigay, Cervantes and Suyo in Ilocos Sur.

The six bills have common provisions. If declared protected, the areas will be under the supervision of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. 

A protected area management office headed by a protected area superintendent would be created to see to it that the sites are no longer subjected to destructive human practices.

Funding for the management and protection of these areas would be included in the annual DENR budget. 

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