PGMA declares Tapaz as watershed area
Roxas City – More than 4,000 hectares in Capiz land have been declared as Panay River Watershed Forest Reserve area.
Presidential Proclamation 599 signed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has declared the 4,350 hectares in Tapaz, Capiz as the Panay River Watershed Forest Reserve area covering about five barangays in said town.
According to Edwin Borja, Forest Management Services chief of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Capiz, said area has been proclaimed as protected area of the province to maintain bio-diversity.
He said that the proclamation is in consonance with the national government's goal towards environmental sustainability.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has recently underscored her administration's thrust that economic growth must be achieved alongside the preservation and protection of the environment for the Philippines to be a modern nation.
The declaration, Borja said, is in preparation for said area to be included in the National Integrated Protection Area System (NIPAS), where all the flora and fauna in said area will be under the protection and preservation of the government.
Recently, a Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) was created here chaired by Tapaz town Mayor Rosemarie Gardose and vice-chaired by DENR, he said.
The other members of the PAMB include the barangay captain of nine barangays in said area, representative from the Indigenous People, and the Northern Panay Forest Developer Association and the Ecological Builders Association, Inc. as non-government organization's representatives.
Aside from the orientation activities by DENR for members of the Board, they are also set to conduct an assessment of the flora and the fauna in the declared forest reserve area. (PIA/Jemin B. Guillermo)