The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is set to map and identify public lands, including portions of municipals waters, that are suitable for salt production areas in a bid to revitalize the country’s salt industry.
The DENR move follows the effectivity of Republic Act (RA) 11985, or the Philippine Salt Industry Development Act, on April 1, 2024.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on March 11 approved and signed RA No. 11985, or “An Act Strengthening and Revitalizing the Salt Industry in the Philippines, Appropriating Funds Therefor.”
The DENR, through its appropriate bureaus and its attached agencies, the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) are mandated to map out, identify and designate public lands, including portions of municipal waters, as salt production areas.
Priority will be given to public lands situated in the provinces identified as suitable for salt production and declared as priority areas for salt production, namely Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, Zambales, Bataan, Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Palawan, Marinduque, Quezon Province, Misamis Oriental and Antique.
Public lands located in other regions will also be subsequently mapped out, identified and designated as potential salt production areas within six months from effectivity of the law.
The DENR is also mandated to inform the public of the result of the mandatory mapping, identification, and designation of public lands for salt production to inform interested salt industry investors. It will also provide the Congressional Oversight Committee on Agriculture and Fisheries a report on the completion of the mapping, identification and designation of public lands for salt production.
A Salt Industry Development Council will be created “to ensure the unified and integrated implementation of the Salt Roadmap and accelerate the modernization and industrialization of the Philippine salt industry,” where the DENR chief will be a member or her designated permanent representative.
DENR Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo Loyzaga in February visited Pangasinan and recognized the project of Pangasinan Gov. Ramon V. Guico III and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan headed by Vice Gov. Mark Ronald DG Lambino to develop a 473-hectare salt farm in Barangay Zaragoza.
“This is the kind of integrated approach that is necessary to secure food, health, nutrition, and water essential to energy security,” Loyzaga said.