Villar renews pitch for wetlands protection, conservation

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Cynthia Villar has urged the government to take action for wetlands, which are critically important ecosystems contributing to biodiversity, climate mitigation and adaptation, freshwater availability and to economies.

Villar rallied behind this year’s World Wetlands Celebration’s call and appealed to invest in financial, human and political capital to save wetlands from disappearing and to restore those that have been degraded.

“In all candidness, this is no mean feat for a state like the Philippines to follow. With our country’s archipelagic nature, we have an abundant number of wetlands that call for much-needed attention,” said Villar, who chairs the Senate committee on environment and natural resources.

During the celebration at the Las Piñas-Parañaque Wetland Park (LPPWP) yesterday, Villar noted that the United Nations encourages the annual celebration to raise public consciousness on wetlands.

She thanked the LPPWP-Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) and its partners, the Society for the Conservation of Philippine Wetlands, the ASEAN Center for Biodiversity and the Philippine Wild Bird Club for their active participation in this event.

The 2016 Atlas of Philippine Inland Wetlands and Classified Caves has put the number at 314 inland wetlands and 2,487 river systems. Of that figure 221 are lakes, 39 are water storage, 31 are ponds, 12 are marshes and swamps and nine are peatlands, according to the senator.

Villar, however, lamented that some people, even those in the government, do not fully recognize and appreciate the significance of wetlands.

“And what is even worse is that there are even people within the DENR who should know the significance of wetlands, yet have chosen to be ignorant of it,” she said.

She specifically cited the LPPWP, which has always been endangered despite being established as a critical habitat, declared a Wetland of International Importance and was legislated a protected area under the Expanded NIPAS Act in 2018.

Villar said the LPPWP has been constantly exposed to the threat of being destroyed due to various reclamation projects in Parañaque and Cavite.

She also took potshots at the DENR-Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) for issuing environmental clearance certificates to these reclamation projects.

The senator recalled late last year a painful experience of being barred by the DENR-EMB from joining a discussion with the technical experts in the Parañaque reclamation project.

“I was simply told that I am not an allowed participant in the meeting. What was so annoying in the incident is that the EMB personnel presiding over the meeting was ignorant of the existence of the LPPWP-PAMB, the body I represent for the meeting, even when LPPWP PAMB was actually invited by EMB itself in that meeting,” she said.

“I am ‘crushed’ that the EMB has plainly adopted the position of the proponent on this ‘matter hook, line and sinker’ and no further discussion and independent studies were made,” she added.

For Villar, who has been involved in the conservation of the wetland park for two decades now, this is “just one of the sad realities that we are confronted with in defending this piece of wetland, and we have been through tougher times along the way.”

“Apart from the destructive effect to the wetland park, one of the issues I wish to point out to the EMB is that the 286-hectare Parañaque reclamation project will obstruct the free flow of water coming from Parañaque River, which is connected to the Las Piñas River in my hometown,” she said.

She underscored that this would trigger massive flooding in Las Piñas, Paranaque and nearby places in Cavite.

“The LPPWP is a showcase of biodiversity conservation in Metro Manila, and we envision it to be the premier learning environment for urban wetlands in the Philippines as well. We are doing our best also to make it a model of sustainable eco-tourism at its best while ensuring that its natural ecological attributes are not compromised,” Villar said.