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Thursday, September 11, 2003
Piyesta sa Kakahuyan set
THE province of Iloilo will mark the 4th Piyesta sa Kakahuyan on Sept. 13, but this time around, at a different venue "to give the celebration a province-wide significance."
The Iloilo Provincial Watershed Management Council (IPWMC), chaired by Gov. Neil Tupas Sr., picked Sitio Tabionan in Barangay Bucari, Leon town as this year's host, the first since Provincial Ordinance 2000-040 was enacted in 1999 designating every second Saturday of September as the feast of forests.
Leon is 30 kilometers from this city while Barangay Bucari, in turn, is more than 20 kilometers from the poblacion. The past three piyesta affairs were held at Barangay Daja, Maasin, host of the Maasin Watershed that had been successfully regreened in five years.
The IPWMC comprises government bodies and NGOs and is co-chaired by the Municipality of Maasin represented by Mayor Mariano Malones.
"This is a province-wide celebration," said Tupas. "I ask the people to join our pilgrimage to Bucari not only to see how beautiful our province is but at the same time, realize how fragile it is due to creeping deforestation that is destroying out mountains."
Tupas also asked the towns to hold their own version of the celebration by launching nurseries and tree planting activities. Iloilo had only two percent forest cover compared to its land area as shown by the Swedish satellite photo in 1989.
Its vegetation have grown to 11 percent by 1999 but environmentalists say that is still deficient because a given land area needs at least 30 to 50 percent forest cover to maintain equilibrium.
"The people of Iloilo have proven that they can save a watershed like Maasin," said Tupas. "We will surely save the entire province if we do it together."
Maasin, main source of tap water of Iloilo City, spans 7,170 hectares. It had only seven percent old growth forest cover in 1995, the main reason why its streams overflowed during heavy rains and died in summer. In five years, it recovered its greeneries.
Watersheds, said IPWMC director Dr. Jessica Salas, is more than water and air. "It is life; it is people and wildlife; forests sustain life by giving it clean air and water, and protect it from floods and drought."
(September 11, 2003 issue)
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