House panel OKs 14 new protected areas

MANILA, Philippines — The House committee on natural resources has approved measures declaring 14 sites in eight provinces as protected areas that are closed to commercial and large-scale exploitation.

Panel chair and Dasmariñas City, Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. said the areas identified in the six bills would be added to a long list of watersheds, hills, mountains, parks, forest lands and natural landscapes declared protected under Republic Act No. 11038 (Expanded National Integrated Areas System Act or ENIPAS).

Barzaga said most of these areas have been subjected to commercial use for decades and are 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 stressed at the hearing earlier this week.

The veteran lawmaker added that the new protected sites cover a combined area of 332,456 hectares.

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

Deputy speaker and Pampanga Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. cited the importance of the measures protecting mountains like Arayat in his province which “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 warned.

The 13 other areas to be added to the list 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 town of Mobo in Masbate; the Hinakpan mystical hills in Guihulngan, Negros Oriental; and the Tirad Pass landscape in Gregorio del Pilar town, 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 (DENR).

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.