For biodiversity protection, food, and nutritional security and climate change mitigation

Legislators from Southern Leyte filed separate bills seeking to declare Panaon Island in Southern Leyte as a protected seascape under the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System Act (ENIPAS) and enhance efforts to safeguard the island’s coral reefs and threatened and endangered species.

The island was found by an international study as among the priority reefs that will highly likely withstand the devastating impacts of climate change.

Southern Leyte Rep. Christopherson Yap (2nd district) filed House Bill 4095 and Rep. Luz Mercado (1st district, Southern Leyte) filed House Bill 3743 at the start of the 19th Congress.

Both bills, now pending in the committee on natural resources, outline the parameter of the protected seascape’s coverage in the four municipalities of Liloan, San Francisco, Pintuyan, and San Ricardo, the mechanisms for administration, the prohibited acts and penalties, and the funding requirements to sustain its protection.

“The declaration of Panaon Island as Marine Protected Area under the ENIPAS Act is very important to me as it will ensure that our future generation, including my son, would be able to experience the island as we experience it today, with its diverse marine flora and fauna,” Rep. Yap said.

“The formation of a body especially created for its protection would deter commercial vessels from encroaching in municipal waters to do their illegal acts with impunity and keep our most prized reefs from destruction. This will allow marine life to thrive and to be available to our subsistence fishermen and give assurance to our visitors that they will get what they came for or will have something much better to come back to,” he explained.
Following the requirements of the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System Act or RA 11038, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) with the local government units and other stakeholders conducted the Protected Area Suitability Assessment (PASA) of Panaon Island.

The initial scoring garnered a score of 96%, suitable to be declared as a protected seascape. The PASA report will be presented in a series of public consultations soon in the four municipalities of the island.

The PASA was consistent with the cache of data and evidence that Oceana, together with the provincial government of Southern Leyte, gathered in a 21-day scientific expedition to Panaon Island in October 2020.

The expedition that assessed the corals and reef fish collection in the island, also made a significant discovery that more than half of the coral reefs were in good or excellent condition.

Rep. Mercado said the filing of the bill is important in the light of the dwindling marine resources due to natural and man-made causes.

“We need to sustain the continuous supply of fish and marine products for the people of Panaon and the Filipino people,” she added.

In separate resolutions filed in June this year, the local chief executives of Liloan, Pintuyan, San Francisco, and San Ricardo pledged their support for the efforts to provide national protection to Panaon Island.

According to the resolutions from Liloan and Pintuyan, “designating Panaon Island as a protected area will not only ensure the perpetual existence of the marine organisms by promoting managed access and regulated utilization of the resources, but also further enhance cooperation among national government, local government and concerned private organizations.”   (PR)

CATBALOGAN CITY– Securing a clearance from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and conversion of agricultural lots to give way to the construction of an airport in this city were among the issues discussed when DAR Eastern Visayas Regional Director Engr. Reynaldo Anfone paid a courtesy visit to Governor Sharee Ann Tan and her brother, Second District Representative Reynolds Michael Tan on Friday, November 4 this year.

During his meeting with the two Samar officials, Governor Tan consulted Anfone on how to go through these requirements so the provincial government and the Department of Transportation (DOTr) can proceed with the project.

Considering that the construction of the airport is a priority project of the Marcos administration, Anfone ordered Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II (PARPO II) Alfonso Catorce, who was also present, to extend the necessary assistance to the local government unit (LGU).

Anfone, installed as the new regional chief of DAR on October 18 this year, included courtesy visits to local government officials to establish harmonious working relationship with the different LGUs as he went around the region the past two weeks.

Other issues discussed during the two-hour meeting were about activities related to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (ELCAC) particularly at the Calbiga-Pinabacdao Settlement, and funding for the construction of the DAR Provincial Office.

Governor Tan assured Anfone and Catorce the inclusion in the 2023 budget of the provincial government the funding requirement for the construction of the said DAR building.
Catorce disclosed that the lot where the DAR provincial office will rise was also donated by the provincial government.

According to him, at the moment they are only renting office space along corner San Francisco Street and Rizal Avenue here in this city.
(JOSE ALSMITH L. SORIA/PR)

CATARMAN, Northern Samar– Rep. Harris Christopher Ongchuan (2nd district) recently met with the provincial director of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) where the two leaders vowed to strengthen each other support to help the local government units in the district in particular.

In her meeting with the solon, Geraldine Maquelabit, last November 11, she discussed with Ongchuan the different programs and activities of their department and the performance of the LGUS in the second congressional district.

Maquelabit also expressed her gratitude to Rep. Ongchuan for his support in making sure that LGUs will comply all national laws and guidelines. (EUGENE M. ENANO)

With still active insurgency problem in EV

TACLOBAN CITY – Eastern Samar Governor Ben Evardone vows to end local armed conflict in the province to usher in prosperity and development and end the stigma of it as among the poorest provinces in the country.

Evardone said that he is working closely with government forces to end the local communist group in the province which he said is affecting the delivery of services to the people.

The governor said that the province has at least one remaining communist front which he is confident that this will be dismantled soon.

The country has five remaining communist fronts and four of which are in the region are currently operating in the tri-boundary of the three Samar provinces, according to the 8th Infantry Division.

Currently, government programs including road network constructions are being implemented in various towns in the province to provide easier access and delivery not only of services but also produce to the market.

Of the 22 towns and one city in Eastern Samar, only Maslog town that has no access to the national highway though a road project is now underway.

“With our unity and cooperation we will graduate from that stigma of being backward, poorest and as an NPA hotbed, “he said.

Moreover, from the 49.5% poverty incident in 2018, this has lowered to 37.7% in 2021 due to the collective effort and interventions of the national government agencies and local government units.

The governor also noted an increase in unemployment status in the province from 5.6% in 2018 to 9.7% in 2021 but this is understandable because some businesses have temporarily shut down their operations and due to the lockdowns implemented for almost two years to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Further, in the recent meeting with the Governors Sharee Ann Tan of Samar and Leyte Gov. Carlos Jericho Petilla with National Security Adviser Clarita Carlos, Evardone proposed the creation of equalization fund to help poor areas have better revenue allotments.

“The proposal is to re-allocate resources of the national government to those who are in dire need,” Evardone said during the meeting on Nov.11 citing that bigger and richer cities has the most share to the revenue allotments from the national government while poor provinces had lesser shares resulting to inequality and harder for them to implement developmental programs.

He also suggests that there should be a criteria for the equalization of fund which may include listing down LGUs that are high risks to natural disaster and calamities, poverty incidence, and the needs of people such as in infrastructure.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)