Iloilo SP backs conservation efforts for Central Panay mountain ranges
Members of the 9th Iloilo Sanggunian Panlalawigan (SP) have officially backed conservation and preservation efforts for the Central Panay mountain ranges.
With the move initially gaining ground at the SP of Antique, Third District Board Member Mariano Malones Sr. led the Iloilo support.
Contained in Committee Report No. 2009-09, the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources recommended the backing as sought by counterparts in the Province of Antique. Malones is the Environment and Natural Resources committee chairperson.
To note submitted for the Iloilo SP’s support was Resolution No. 94-2009 of the Antique SP. Said Resolution declared full backing of Antique on a government and private initiative to have the Central Panay mountain ranges categorized as “critical habitat.”
Similar legislative support was further sought with yet another Panay province coursed through the SP of Capiz. Such, as certain municipalities from all three provinces were identified and included in the proposed Panay Mountain Natural Park.
The natural park covers an area of 120,770.60 hectares with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Antique at the helm of the conservation program. DENR-Antique is getting much-needed boost from a non-profit organization, Philippine Association for Conservation and Development Inc. (PhilConserve) and the Philippine Endemic Species Conservation Project (PESCP).
PhilConserve has since been dedicated to the preservation of the country’s “endangered endemic plants and animals in, as well as the few remaining rain forests…particularly those on Panay island.”
“With a mix of Filipino and international staff, PhilConserve has its head office in Pandan, Antique, one of the four West Visayan provinces making up the island of Panay, in which PhilConserve´s PESCP also operates a field station,” information gathered from the Philconserve official website went.