CITY OF MATI, Davao Oriental, June 28 (PIA)--- To protect the environment stands as the ultimate goal of seeking the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) inscription for Mt. Hamiguitan, Provincial Gov. Corazon Malanyaon said.
In a presscon Thursday evening at the Subangan Provincial Museum, Malanyaon emphasized the need to protect Mt. Hamiguitan amidst influx of tourists expected to come and see the mountain range recently inscribed by UNESCO as one of the World Heritage sites.
“We sought the inscription because we want to showcase our people who want to protect the environment,” she said.
Malanyaon bared that UNESCO had set “stringent conditions” that went along with the inscription of Mt. Hamiguitan, recognizing it for possessing “outstanding universal value as it represents a complete and substantially intact flora and fauna.”
Proclaimed as a protected area under Republic Act 9303, the Mt. Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary was inscribed by UNESCO on June 23, 2014 among the World Heritage sites under wildlife sanctuary category.
It is the only UNESCO-inscribed heritage site in Mindanao, the only mountain range in the Philippines inscribed as a World Heritage site, and the sixth UNESCO-inscribed wildlife sanctuary in the world.
Other UNESCO World Heritage sites in the Philippines are the city of Vigan (Ilocos Sur), the Baroque Churches of the Philippines, the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras, the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, Puerto Princesa Subterrarean River (Palawan).
Stretching in a land area of more than 7,000 hectares , the Mt. Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary straddles across the municipalities of San Isidro, Governor Generoso and the City of Mati in Davao Oriental.
Malanyaon banks on the continued commitment of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to protect the mountain range and its wildlife but she had made her own measures of protecting it by creating the Mt. Hamiguitan Development Council, bringing together local government units and concerned government agencies tapped to protect and conserve Mt. Hamiguitan.
She has also tasked the three local chief executives of LGUs within Mt. Hamiguitan to “plan out the kind of development that should happen in the area.”
In the same press conference, Governor Generoso Mayor Vicente Orencia committed to do his share of protecting Mt. Hamigutan sayingnobody should be allowed to enter the buffer-zone serving as shield area surrounding the mountain range.
Mayor Justina Yu vowed to hold on to the policy of the municipality on “No to Mining, No to Illegal Logging” that the municipality has been implementing since 1997.
“No cutting of trees in San Isidro. We have been protecting the mountain for so long,” she told the media practitioners.
Mayor Carlo Rabat of the City of Mati pointed out the need to come up with uniform policies among LGUs within Mt. Hamiguitan not only to conserve Mt. Hamiguitan but also to protect its buffer-zone from intrusion.
“There should be coordination in terms of policy,” he said in the same forum.
Meanwhile, DENR Regional Executive Director Joselin Marcus Fragada assured the provincial government of Davao Oriental of the continued support of DENR but he pointed out the need for a collective effort “to sustain Mt. Hamiguitan as a World Heritage Site.”
He also saw the need to establish proper implementing rules and regulations on entry of visitors to and on research studies in the mountain range in accordance with the conditions set by UNESCO in its inscription of Mt. Hamiguitan. (PIA 11/ Jeanevive Duron-Abangan)
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