Congress backing sought to create Davao Gulf management authority

DAVAO CITY,  May 08 (PIA):  Elevating the status of the Davao Gulf Management Council  (DGMC) into an authority needs the backing of the House of  Representatives to champion it in  Congress.

DGMC Secretary General Leo Avila said  the council still has to look for someone to push the conversion of DGMC into the Davao Gulf Management Authority (DGMA). 

In an interview,  Avila revealed that in September last year, DGMC  passed a resolution asking Congress to create  the DGMA  out of the present council organized to  look into the welfare of the Davao Gulf.

He cited the creation of DGMA as vital “in favor of the Gulf” but he made it clear that he is not strongly pushing it but “I am just open to the idea.”

He presumed that LGUs would be “a little bit reluctant about it” because some of the powers and responsibilities of LGUs  on coastal water  management would be taken from them and be entrusted to the DGMA.

“It needs full acceptance of the LGUs.”

Avila admitted the need for enforcement roles of the DGMC as he acknowledged to have noted some instances of violations committed by some LGUs .   He did not elaborate on this however.

Created in August 1999, DGMC is the brain-child of the Save Davao Gulf Foundation, Inc. (SDGFI);  International Marinelife Alliance (IMA); Human Development International (HDI), the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR)  and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

The organizing non-government organizations and national government agencies had seen the importance of putting together efforts in protecting and sustaining a healthy Davao Gulf seen to have made a major contribution to the economic life of residents in the Davao Region.

Bearing the responsibility of overseeing the Davao Gulf conservation,  the DGMC  only serves as the coordinating body of  five coastal cities and 18 municipalities  that lie along  the coastline of the Gulf.

Though just a coordinating body, DGMC sets the agenda for LGUs  and NGOs to  work together for the wholistic management and protection of the Davao Gulf.

“We are united by the waters of the gulf,”  Avila said. “We have to work together.” 

But the DGMC cannot compel member LGUs to implement the lined up programs and  drawn guidelines to ensure the protection of Davao Gulf.

“We can only ask them, suggest, but they are the ones implementing (the programs),”  he said.

The DGMC Framework Plan for 2004 to 2014 lays down eight core programs. These are on habitat management,  fisheries  management, foreshore management,  coastal tourism and water use,  enterprise and livelihood development, watershed management, waste management and pollution control; and legal arrangement and institutional development.

The  Davao Gulf  deserves to be managed and protected as the Worldwide Fund for Nature-Philippines (WWF) considers it as “one of the most  diverse marine ecosystems in the world.”

It is located 984 kilometers south of Manila, with an  area of 6,600 square kilometers.  The Gulf binds together the coastlines of Davao City, Davao del Sur,  Davao del Norte, Compostela Valley and part of the coastal areas of Davao Oriental. The Island Garden City of  Samal (IGACOS) lies at  the center of the Gulf.

The Davao Gulf has diverse species of mangroves,  seagrasses, coral reefs.   The Gulf is the hatching ground of marine turtles, and the feeding ground of cetaceans such as  Dugongs, dolphins and whales including migratory shorebirds.  (PIA-11/Jeanevive Duron-Abangan)