DENR green light awaited for projects in watershed

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet—Now that a permanent environment protection order covers the Sto. Tomas forest reservation, the Tuba municipal council in Benguet province has asked the watershed administrators to allow projects to proceed and serve forest settlements.

“The delay in the implementation of these projects will greatly affect the environment of [the watershed] and the Clean Air Act,” said a resolution approved by the council. It was addressed to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), which is overseeing the protection and rehabilitation of the watershed.

The document cited the construction of toilets worth P500,000, installation of garbage bins worth P200,000, as well as a P1-million waterworks system for communities within the Sto. Tomas reserve. These projects need a DENR clearance before these are implemented.

On May 6, the Court of Appeals (CA) issued the permanent environment protection order over the reservation following a writ of “kalikasan” issued by the Supreme Court in September last year.

The writ was sought by petitioners from Baguio City and San Fabian town in Pangasinan province, led by Baguio Bishop Carlito Cenzon and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, who is also president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

The petitioners were concerned about an illegal road excavation along Mount Kabuyao, one of several mountains comprising the Sto. Tomas reserve. The excavations were blamed for the contamination of a Baguio water source.

In its order, the CA stopped all construction activities at the reserve and directed the Tuba government and various government agencies to draw up and implement a long-term plan to rehabilitate and preserve the forest.

It observed that “vegetable gardens have proliferated [in] the area without regulation by the DENR and its subagencies, or from the local government of Tuba,” and could affect the water discharged from the mountains.