DENR sends team to inspect Bantayan easement zone

The regional office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-7) has startedlooking into reports of the presence of illegal structures as well as ongoing construction within the 20-meter easement zone in Bantayan Island, northern Cebu.

“(We’ll do an inventory of) the expansion or construction of concrete structures made by some beach resorts within the demarcated 20-meter easement zone in Bantayan Island,” DENR regional executive director Isabelo Montejo said.

Montejo said the nine-member team was given one week to submit their findings.
In a statement, Montejo said the findings will be used as basis for filing a case in court.

In August 2009, a court order was issued by then Regional Trial Court Judge Marilyn Lagura-Yap to remove illegal structures and constructions in Bantayan Island.

Endorsed

Included in the order was a cottage in Abaniko Beach Resort; a seawall, concrete fence and a portion of the bar house in Tickety Boo Beach Resort; seawall, bar and restaurant in Yoonek Beach Resort; seawall, five kiosks, solid fence and two rest houses in Kota Beach Resort; seawall and five kiosks in Marlin Beach Resort; and seawall, bar, restaurant and cottage in St. Bernard Beach Resort; all in Bantayan Island.

“These structures affect the livelihood of fisherfolk there,” the judge’s 2009 order read.
Under Article 51 of Presidential Decree 1067 or the Water Code of the Philippines, “banks of rivers and streams and the shores of seas and throughout their length and within a zone of three meters in urban areas, 20 meters in agricultural areas and 4 meters in forest areas, along their margins are subject to the easement for public use in the interest of recreation, navigation, floatage, fishing and salvage.”

Al Orolfo, Regional Technical Director of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Coastal Zone and Management Services, also said the DENR held a forum with residents and local officials in Bantayan as part of efforts to draft a land use management plan.

“Based on feedback from my team, the plan was endorsed by majority of the people who attended the consultation,” Orolfo said.

Delayed

The Protected Area Management Plan was made a pre-requisite by the environment court in a 2009 order before the DENR could resume “accepting, processing and approving applications for Environmental Compliance Certificates (ECCs) of projects in the island.”

Without the management plan, resorts and other establishments cannot pursue further developments in the area or encroach on the 20-meter public easement zones from the shoreline.
Orolfo said the management plan was delayed since their office also had to come up with the same plan for 15 other protected areas in Central Visayas.

He said the DENR didn’t have a budget to fund the drafting of the management plan since the island wasn’t earning revenue as a protected area.

But last year, President Benigno Aquino III signed into law an amendment on the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act of 1992 retaining 75 percent of the income from protected areas to the Protected Areas Management Board.

Income

Through this, he said DENR was able to tap in the Integrated Protected Areas Fund (IPAF). Funding from the central office also arrived last year, he said.

Income generated by protected areas comes from entrance fees paid by tourists, payment for the lease of areas used by tourism concessions, contributions from industries and facilities benefiting from the protected area like resorts.

A popular tourist destination with its white sand beaches, Bantayan Island is also covered by Presidential Proclamation No. 1234 declaring Tañon Strait as a protected seascape.

Orolfo said the plan will classify areas in the island into two — multiple use zone and restricted zones.

In areas tagged as a multiple use zone, development would be allowed contrary to those identified as a restricted zone.

He said the collaboration between the community, the LGU and DENR is vital in coming up with the plan since it is crucial to the development of Bantayan while ensuring its protection.

The plan will be forwarded to the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) before it is sent for final approval to Environment Secretary Ramon Paje. “We are confident that it will get approved this year,” Orolfo said.