Consultations for MOA to save Danajon start

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines – Details of the draft memorandum of agreement for the protection and conservation of the Danajon Double Barrier Reef have been discussed by some officials of various local government units in Leyte recently.

One of a series of consultative meetings on the Danajon case was held in this city last week in the presence of the members of the technical working group that presented the proposed MOA with officials of Maasin City in Southern Leyte and later with Leyte provincial officals.

The group, together with representatives of Leyte Gov. Carlos Jericho Petilla and environment officials from six towns and two cities, tackled the provisions of the draft MOA and set a tentative schedule of its signing in May 2012 in Bohol.

In the second week of this month, the technical group will visit Lapu-Lapu City and Cebu for the same purpose.

With the group were lawyer Rose Liza Osorio, Rizalier Amolo and Romel Kiril, all of the Coastal Conservation and Education Foundation (CCEF), which is spearheading the consultation on Danajon conservation efforts with concerned LGU officials.

Bohol provincial agriculturist Liza Quirog and Joel Molina, who represented Gov. Edgar Chatto, and lawyer Ethelbert Ouano of Lapu-Lapu City also attended the consultative meeting at the Leyte Capitol in Tacloban City.

Mayor Nathaniel Gertos of Bato town in Leyte were also there along with Leyte coastal officer Danilo Redoña, and LGU agriculturists Elena Sidoiqui of Baybay City; Angelito Asencion of Inopacan town in Leyte, Alejo Codoy of Hindang town in Leyte, and Jose Tagsip of Hilongos town in Leyte.

The CCEF said, the Danajon Double Barrier Reef, also known as the Danajon Bank, is “one among only six worldwide. This unique geological formation has been carved for over 6000 years of coral ecosystem development. It is further known as the seed of marine diversity in this eco-region, with its vast expanse of mangrove forests and extensive coral reef systems.”

Its expanse spreads around four provinces, covering Lapu-Lapu City in Mactan island of Cebu, Baybay City in Leyte, and Maasin City in Southern Leyte, and the towns of Inopacan, Hindang, Hilongos, Matalom and Bato, all in Leyte, and the towns of President Carlos P. Garcia, Ubay, Trinidad, Bien-Unido, Talibon, Getafe, Buenavista, Inabanga, Clarin and Tubigon, all in Bohol.

These LGUs have decided to collaborate and unite their resources and efforts to come up with a system to save the Danajon Bank from further damage.  - THE FREEMAN