DENR urges Senate to pass 17 bills on wildlife resources

The Environment and Natural Resources Department (DENR) on Thursday urged Senate to hasten the passage of 17 proposed laws that aim to protect and preserve the country's remaining wildlife resources. The department has submitted all the necessary requirements in re-filing the bills "because we have seen the necessity to proclaim these areas as protected," Environment Secretary Ramon Jesus Paje said on Thursday. Senator Juan Miguel Zurbiri, for his part, said: "I will exert all efforts to have the PA bills passed in Congress." Zubiri, who heads the Senate committee on environment and natural resources, made the statement to reporters on Thursday during the First National Zoological Park Conference at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Nature Center in Quezon City. The protected areas include Siargao Islands Protected Land and Seascape, Mt. Hilong-Hilong Range, Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary, Samar Island Natural Park, Apo Reef Natural Park, Malampaya Sound Protected Land and Seascape, El Nido-Taytay Managed Resource Protected Area, and Turtle Island Wildlife Sanctuary. Other protected areas are Bataan National Park, Casecnan Protected Landscape, Aurora Integrated Protected Area, Mt. Guiting-Guiting Natural Park, Tagub-Kampalili Range Protected Landscape, Mt. Balatukan Range, Buug Natural Biotic Area, Northwest Panay Peninsula National Park, and Northern Negros Natural Park. A law — the National Integrated Protected Area System Act — defines protected area as "identified portions of land and water set aside by reason of their unique physical and biological significance, managed to enhance biological diversity, and protected against destructive human exploitation." At present, there are 12 protected areas considered by law. The Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park was the most recent, declared so by virtue of Republic Act 10067 issued in April 2010. —JE, GMANews.TV