Rey Anthony H.
Chiu
BOHOL, June 8 (PIA)-- The issuance of a Department of Environment
and Natural Resources (DENR) department order declaring the permanently
uplifted areas of Maribojoc and Loon is not the end of it all, and confiscating
the 137 hectares of the uplifted coastlines is far from what it means.
Bohol Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer Nestor
Canda explained, the declaration implied in the department order
signals the official start of consultations on the management of the aggregate
137 hectares from the over 417 hectares of gained shorelines following the
October 13, 2013 earthquake.
News spread about an apparent interpretation that
the (DENR) deprived the towns of Maribojoc and Loon an aggregate of 137
hectares.
Canda expalined that in a phenomena called upliftment, Maribojoc
and Loon both gained 417 hectares when the seas in these towns retreated about
50 meters seawards elevating the coastlines to over a meter high.
The uplift also caused some areas of the coasts to be permanently
denied of the tidal movements that the exposed portions are now hosting the
indications of thriving terrestrial plants, he added.
With the gain in coastlines, some enterprising residents tried to
build structures on the formerly classified seas that the local authorities and
the DENR have to put in markers to remind people that these exposed areas are
government property.
To make sure that no encroachments happen within these areas, the
DENR sees a rare potential in the areas for geological research, educational
studies and tourism activities.
Loon executive assistant to the Mayor, Reynaldo Monreal said,
with the onset the town crafted an ordinance establishing the Loon Coastal
Geomorphic Conservation Park at the Loon Uplifted Intertidal Zone, and
asserting the town's territorial jurisdiction of the area.
Drafted in 2014 and is still under review, the ordinance lays down
the management plan for the development of the site for tourism, amusement,
recreation, sports and physical activities.
It laid some prohibited acts in the designated areas including the
construction of anything not in line with the development plan; the
collection and extraction of materials and objects with ecological, geological
and educational importance from the area; cutting of
trees; unauthorized planting of any species; dumping of
garbage; driving or parking that may destroy the significance of the area.
All of these however were seemingly threatened by the
issuance of Department Administrative Order 2015-08, signed May 14, 2015, which
declared some uplifted areas of Maribojoc and Loon as geological
monument.
PENRO Canda is positive that the declaration, if there is anything
that it signifies is the green-lighting of the consultations of the
communities on the policies they must need to put up to conserve the area.
The outputs of the series of upcoming consultations would be the
contents of a recommendation the DENR submits to the President so that
corresponding proclamation can be finally issued. (mbcn/rac/PIA7-Bohol)