Saturday, June 23, 2007 DENR ‘desperate’ to save reforestation project
POLITICAL boundaries in forest reserves and watershed area are not diminished, but at least the local government units (LGUs) can no longer meddle in policy making on how to manage the protected areas.
Fr. Margarito Alingasa of the Cebu Uniting for Sustainable Water (CUSW) and one of those, who initiated in drafting the law, said that out of five Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) in Cebu, four have been dissolved by the passage of Republic Act 9486 to centralize the policy making and project selection for the protected areas in Cebu.
“It is now easier to implement projects and plan prioritization in accordance with the National Integrated Protected Area System (Nipas) Act,” he said in a talk, adding that because of the usual conflict in decision for two years they were unable to convene the five PAMB officials.
“There has been no meeting. Ang amo ra gyod ma convene ang mga membro sa (What we are up to is to convene the members of the) executive committee,” he said.
But he fears that funding can still be a problem because management of protected areas and watershed will be taken from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Boundaries
On the other hand, Dioscoro Melana, regional technical director of the Protected Area and Wildlife-Coastal Zone and Marine Management, said the passage of Rep. Eduardo Gullas’ (Cebu, 1st district) bill turned PAMB from a mere interim body into a regular and quasi-judicial body.
“With this law, technical description of boundaries is fixed. PAMB, which is the governing body on protected areas and watershed can now decide far from being influenced by interest of LGUs,” he said.
But PAMB’s problem with the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD), whose debt for extracting from the Buhisan dam now reached more than P30 million, is another issue that has to be resolved administratively or in the court.
Enactment
Alingasa said that since 2000, he and the other officials of CUSW have been working with DENR for the content of the law.
Among they have protected are the tenants who have been in the protected areas five years before the enactment of the Nipas Act in 2002.
“If they have been there, then they have nothing to worry. But they only have a certificate of occupancy, no title for the land,” he said. (AIV)
