Villar lauds passing of protected areas laws

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Cynthia Villar recently welcomed President Duterte’s enactment into law of five measures, declaring Mt. Pulag and four other sites in the country as protected areas (PAs) that she all authored.

She thanked Duterte for signing Republic Acts 11684, 11685, 11686, 11687 and 11688, which added Mt. Arayat in Pampanga, Mt. Pulag in Benguet, Naga-Kabasalan in Zamboanga Sibugay, Tirad Pass in Ilocos Sur and Banao in Kalinga to the list of protected areas under the National Integrated Protected Areas System, established under RA 7586 as amended by RA 11038 or the Expanded NIPAS Act of 2018.

With these new laws, Villar, who chairs the Senate committee on environment and natural resources, said there are now 112 protected areas in the country that have been so declared through legislation.

Villar had pushed for the passage of the E-NIPAS Act of 2018, which strengthened the legal framework for the establishment,  management and maintenance of all designated protected areas in the country  or those that are identified to be ecologically rich and biologically important public lands.