DENR holds multi stakeholder forum in Mindanao

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DENR holds multi stakeholder forum in Mindanao

DENR Secretary Antonia Yulo Loyzaga in her welcome remarks during the Mindanao leg of the multi-stakeholders forum in Cagayan de Oro City stressed the need for a continued dialogue through a multi-stakeholders’ forum that shall serve as the foundation for science-based, data-driven, and socially, politically and culturally-sensitive environment and natural resource policies.

Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez (2nd District) in his keynote speech said, he authored the Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR) law mandating companies and large industries to recover, recycle, and clean-up their garbage instead of dumping it in the canals, rivers, and seas. He also authored the creation of the Cagayan de Oro River Basin Authority whose members once fought the establishment of a bio-ethanol plant by the Alcantara and Sons, Inc. in Barangay Lumbia, here.

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) enters its last leg of nationwide consultations with more than 300 industry and sector leaders in a two-day forum here to refine and craft adaptive, inclusive and sustainable development pathways on environmental governance.

Dennis Joseph I. Salvador, Executive Director, Philippine Eagle Foundation said, the country’s apex predator and national bird is a perfect survey of the country’s bio diversity status adding that their nesting sites are centers of biological evolution. He lauded grassroots, LGU, and DENR participation of conservation. In Davao City, the local government has declared 50,000 hectares of watersheds as protected areas and subsidized the pay of forest guards.

Salvador, however, lamented that there are only 392 pairs of Philippine Eagle left. A record of 94 eagles were rescued, the highest rescue rate in the history of Philippine Eagle conservation. Hunting remains rampant where wild pig and deer meat is still illegally sold in the areas of Mt. Apo. Worse, hunters bring with them African Swine Flu (ASF)-contaminated meat into the wild. In 2021 a mass death of 141 wild pigs were reported in a 325 hectare preservation area in Tagum City and across the country believed infected with ASF.

The Cagayan de Oro leg completes the agency’s nationwide consultations for a whole-of-society approach to environmental resilience. The Mindanao leg follows the Luzon and Visayas legs of the forum which commenced in Manila on October 2022. On February 2, 2023, the forum gathered insights on environmental governance as well as other pertinent issues such as ecotourism, agriculture and food security, forest and land management, climate and disaster resilience, and mining.

Maria Easterluna Santos Canoy, Executive Director, Kitanglad Integrated NGO (KIN), Inc. emphasized the need for a culture-based conservation that support indigenous culture philosophy and values. Thus, there is a need of recognizing the role of indigenous peoples (IP) in protecting the environment. She cited the 2012 bombing by helicopter gunships against fleeing NPA rebels inside Kitanglad’s ancestral domain. This “angered the Gods” who poured heavy rain for two weeks and swelled the rivers.
The IPs feared that unless a ritual ceremony is done to appease the Gods, it will endanger the low-lying Cagayan de Oro City of flooding. This prompted then 403rd Battalion Brigade Commander Colonel Romeo Gapuz and his officers to submit into the “sorry ritual” called “Pangluntay.”

DENR Secretary Antonia Loyzaga stressed that the Mindanao region “requires a localized and contextualized approach” and assured stakeholders that the DENR will continue its extensive consultations across all local communities.

Fr. Joel E. Tabora, SJ, President, Ateneo de Davao University shared that in the academe, they engage in scientific research to accelerate and support climate action locally such as monitoring of environmental indicators and the use of renewable energies. He, however, reminded that such advocacy should not be limited to climate action but the action to preserve the planet.

(Text and photos by Giovanni A. Flaviano)

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