Lake Lanao up for restoration

MANILA, Philippines – The provincial government of Lanao del Sur and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) have agreed to restore the Lake Lanao watershed.

The DENR and the provincial government recently signed an agreement for the integrated natural resources and environmental management project (INREMP) covering the lake.

The agreement was signed by DENR-Region 10 director Ruth Tawantawan and Lanao del Sur Gov. Soraya Adiong.

INREMP aims to manage the country’s upper river basins and watersheds in support of the government’s poverty reduction, watershed management, biodiversity conservation and climate change policy objectives.

DENR Secretary Gina Lopez hoped to see changes in the lives of people living around the lake within six months of the implementation of the project.

Around 30 municipalities composed of 800 villages are found within the area.

Lake Lanao is the second largest lake in the country, next to Laguna de Bay. It supplies 70 percent of Mindanao’s power needs, aside from being a source of fish and marine products and irrigation.

Meanwhile, members of the fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) hit the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) for allegedly failing to dismantle the fish pens in bay.

President Duterte and the DENR earlier ordered the fish pens demolished as these occupy the communal fishing ground for small fishermen.

Pamalakaya and its members will try to talk with LLDA general manager Nereus Acosta next month to resolve the issue.

“We challenge Acosta to face us and the Laguna Lake fishermen. We want to hear from him why the LLDA cannot prevent the reclamation and fish pen proliferation in Laguna de Bay,” Pamalakaya chief Fernando Hicap said. – With John Unson