House assures funding for 94 protected areas

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives has assured funding for 94 protected areas enumerated under the consolidated Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System (E-NIPAS) bill.

The committee on appropriations chaired by Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, which endorsed the bill, mandated that funding allocations for the 94 protected areas would be included in the annual budget.

Mindoro Occidental Rep. Josephine Sato, author of the measure, welcomed the committee’s endorsement, saying it would be “a big boost to our call for enhanced financing mechanism for the protection and conservation of our rich biodiversity.”

She said it was Zamboanga City Rep. Celso Lobregat who moved for endorsing the consolidated bill and having all members of the Nograles panel as her co-authors.

“Two of the 94 protected areas covered by the E-NIPAS – the Great and Little Sta. Cruz Islands Protected Landscape and Seascape and the Pasonanca Natural Park – are situated in Zamboanga City,” she said.

The proposed protected areas are spread throughout the country. Most of them are mountain ranges, parks and watersheds.

They would be closed to exploitation and similar commercial activities.

Aside from Sato, Ako Bicol Rep. Rodel Batocabe authored another bill declaring a similar list of protected areas.

Sato said protecting mountain ranges, parks and watersheds “is critical to the country’s biodiversity as these are home to endemic and endangered species of flora and fauna.”

She said the country “is host to 70 to 80 percent of the world’s life forms and is believed to harbor more diversity of life than any nation on a per-hectare basis.”

“Unfortunately, the country is losing its biodiversity at an unprecedented scale. The unmitigated and destructive human activities have put it in a biodiversity crisis that would take decades to reverse,” she said.

The consolidated bill lists 22 prohibited acts in protected areas, including mining, logging, quarrying and fishing.

Violators would face imprisonment of one year to 12 years or a fine of P50,000 to P5 million, or both at the discretion of the court.

Sato said she hoped the measures would soon be approved.