THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has declared the Loon-Maribojoc coastline as a geological monument after it was uplifted by the Bohol earthquake last October 2013.
The site will be known as the “Loon-Marijoboc Geological Monument” under the DENR Administrative Order (DAO) issued by DENR Secretary Ramon Paje.
Geological monuments are sites that show outstanding features or processes considered by geologists and other scientist as worthy of conservation.
“The department order declaring the uplifted coastal area as a geological monument serves to provide a legal framework for the recognition, preservation and protection of the uplifted coast, as well as encourage further researches and studies on the monument for the advancement of geosciences in the country,” Paje said.
The declaration was based on the DENR’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) survey.
The survey recorded an uplift of 1.2 meters of land which was caused by the 7.2-magnitude earthquake last October 15, 2013.
Stretching eight kilometers, the uplifted coastal area straddles four barangays of Loon, namely Tangnan, Cuasi, Tontonan and Song-on, and two barangays of Maribojoc – Punta Cruz and Guiwanon.
The DENR said the uplift “constitutes an irreplaceable segment of the earth’s history and geological heritage.”
Under the department order, the MGB will perform ground verification of the area and install markers containing the geological history, description and significance of the geological monument.
A park management plan will also be crafted by the bureau in coordination with other government agencies and concerned local governments.
Six other national geological monuments were earlier declared by the DENR.
These are the Chocolate Hills, also in Bohol; the Hundred Islands in Pangasinan; the sand dunes of Ilocos Norte; the St. Paul Limestone Formation in Puerto Princesa, Palawan; the Taal Volcano in Batangas; and the Montalban Limestone Gorge in Rodriguez, Rizal. (Jan Keanu Plantilla, UST intern/Sunnex)
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