Transco pays DENR P7 million

Cebu - The National Transmission Corporation paid the Department of Environment and Natural Resources over P7 million last Friday as Resource User’s Fee to the Tañon Strait Protected Seascape for the submarine cable system laid from Samboan, Cebu to Amlan, Negros Oriental traversing the TSPS.

The payment is pursuant to the Protected Area Management Board resolution that authorizes the Protected Area Superintendent to collect payments from individuals or corporate users of the resources in Tañon Strait.

The NTC laid down a cable corridor 17.5 kilometers long and 50 meters wide in 2007 and agreed to pay P7,120,000 for calendar year 2007 and 2008.

Officials from Transco headed by Pedrito Garcia, cluster head of the Cebu-Negros-Panay Interconnection Uprating Project, personally delivered the check representing the said amount to the DENR regional office.

It was received by Dioscoro Melana, regional technical director for Protected Area Wildlife Coastal Zone Management Sector.

The RUF will be deposited to the DENR-TSPS sub-fund account. Twenty-five percent of the fund will go to the National Treasury and the remaining 75 percent will be utilized for the projects in the Tañon Strait.

The DENR-7 Public Affairs Office said that under the Department of Budget and Management guidelines, the RUF can only be withdrawn upon submission of the work and financial plan by the PAMB. 

The Tañon Strait is the body of water that lies between the Province of Cebu and Negros Oriental, and partly Negros Occidental in the north.

In May 27 1998, then President Fidel V. Ramos signed Presidential Proclamation No. 1234, declaring Tañon Strait as a protected seascape pursuant to National Integrated Protected System Act.

According to DENR, the strait serves as the refuge of unique aquatic species which is vital in the sustainability of the aquatic resources in the whole Visayan seas.

The NIPAS Act mandated the DENR to convene the PAMB. Its members are composed of Tañon Strait stakeholders, LGUs, NGOs and other organizations which have established environmental stakes in the area. — Jessica Ann R. Pareja/BRP  (THE FREEMAN)