Gov’t enforcing stricter environment rules
THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is enforcing stricter regulations on the environment to preserve the ecological integrity of protected areas and their unique features.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources as a start suspended all Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) applications for projects located in protected areas (PA).
DENR Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga in a press briefing said all ECC applications will be reviewed first before approval by
the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB). Loyzaga made the announcement after visiting the Mount Apo Natural Park in Digos City, Davao del Sur.
“We have issued a memo on all the regions that has PAs, (we suspend for now the) processing of any ECCs, and any future ECCs now for the PA will have to be escalated to central office,” Loyzaga said.
“Part of that is no ECCs can be processed without the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) giving its approval,” she added.
The DENR also canceled its agreement with the Socorro Bayanihan Services Inc. (SBSI) for violating the provisions of the tenurial instrument awarded in June 2004 covering 353 hectares in the Siargao Island Protected Landscape and Seascape (SIPLAS) in Surigao del Norte.
The DENR nullified Protected Area Community-Based Resource Management Agreement (PACBRMA) No. 74007 entered into with SBSI, citing violations.
These included the establishment of settlements or residences in the PACBRMA area and checkpoints strictly regulating the entry of nonmembers, infrastructure such as new access roads, communal quadrangle with a basketball court, volleyball court, and a stage with bleacher and a wave pool.
The DENR has been working with the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the provincial government since the suspension of the PACBRMA in September 2023.