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Monday, April 17, 2006
Gullas urges Senate body to act, before June break
By Rene H. Martel
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
WHETHER or not the bill seeking to consolidate the management of Metro Cebu’s five protected areas by one policy-making body will become a law is now in the hands of the country’s senators.
Rep. Eduardo Gullas (Cebu, 1st district) is waiting for the Senate committee on natural resources, headed by Sen. Pia Cayetano, to render a report on House Bill 4862 that he filed with Congress early last year.
He hopes the committee will fast-track the task so the bill could be deliberated upon in the plenary and hopefully approved after the third reading before their long break on June 9.
Sessions resume on May 15 and Gullas is hoping the bill would be approved within the short period left.
He explained that the bill is chiefly for the protection, preservation, maintenance, rehabilitation and sustainable development of Metro Cebu’s water resource, which has been dwindling through the years.
Named the Central Cebu Protected Landscapes Act of 2005, it places the management of Cebu’s five protected areas under one policy-making body called the Central Cebu Protected Landscape-Protected Area Management Board (CCPL-PAMB).
Tenure
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) regional director is identified as head of the body, with the mayors of Cebu City and Balamban town as co-chairpersons.
In a press conference yesterday, the congressman assured those who have been living in the area for generations, specifically those who rely on the land for livelihood, will be protected.
They are still allowed to till the land as long as they do not “do anything to destroy or cause the non-protection, non-preservation...of resources” in the 29,062-hectare area.
They will be considered tenured migrants, at least those living in the area at least five years before June 1, 1992, which DENR delineated as its cut-off period.
This hopefully will spare the CCPL-PAMB from having to deal with conflicts similar to what is simmering now in the mountain areas of barangays Tabunan, Tagbao, Taptap, and Pung-ol Sibugay.
Farmers there were complaining against a retired general whom DENR authorized in 1999 to keep watch over a 500-hectare protected area.
Kaingin
The residents complained that the general’s men were harassing them and forcing them out of their farms.
Gullas said those who do not qualify as tenured tenants could still stay in the protected areas, but won’t be given permission to use the land.
Among the acts the bill prohibits is the slash and burn system of farming, and cutting of trees or timber without prior CCPL-PAMB permits.
Possession of chain saws or band saws without permit is also prohibited, as well as that of blasting caps and explosives anywhere near the protected areas.
According to the bill, the CCPL-PAMB will manage the Buhisan watershed forest reserve, Mananga watershed, Cotcot-Lusaran watershed, and the Central Cebu and Sudlon national parks.
As proposed, Metro Cebu covers the cities of Cebu, Talisay, and Mandaue; and the towns of Minglanilla, Consolacion, Liloan and Compostela.
The mayors and district representatives from these localities must be members of the management board. They will also elect the members of a 17-member executive body.
Intrusion
Board members will meet at least every quarter, while those of the executive committee will meet as often as possible.
Gullas said the water problem, which has been thoroughly discussed in a series of multi-sectoral meetings initiated by Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, prompted him to file the bill.
Yesterday, he also thanked his fellow Cebu congressmen, various personalities and organizations, for supporting and helping him come up with a comprehensive bill he hoped will help solve Cebu’s water woes.
Gullas said the water supply in Metro Cebu has been dwindling seriously because of over-extraction from aquifers, which has caused saltwater intrusion into the groundwater table.
“When I was governor of Cebu, saltwater intrusion was still on P. del Rosario St., but now it already reached the Capitol Site or at the foot of the hills of Cebu City,” he said.
If properly protected and conserved, Metro Cebu’s water resources could yield sufficient water for the use of Cebu’s increasing population, estimated at 1.8 million already, he said.
Gullas said the five protected areas have been identified as among the world’s environmental and ecological hotspots because they are home to “2,120 endemic species of vascular and non-vascular plants and 707 species of fauna.”
New fund
These fauna species, which could not be found elsewhere in the country, are now being threatened by extinction, he said.
The bill will prohibit the hunting, collecting, killing and destruction of flora and fauna and their habitat in the protected areas.
A special prosecutor, designated by the justice department, will handle all cases pertaining to the preservation of these areas.
But Gullas said the 106 individuals settled in about 40 barangays encompassing the peripheral boundaries in the protected areas will not be displaced.
“Provided that they will police their own ranks in order to preserve these watersheds,” he said.
Gullas said the bill has a special provision that will establish the Integrated Protected Area Fund, wherein 75 percent of its income from fees, permits, royalties and contributions will be used for development projects.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (April 17, 2006 issue)
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