DENR expands inspection of foreshore areas in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines —  The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)-7 has expanded its foreshore inspection and inventory in Cebu, from Mactan Island now extending to key sites or coastal areas along Tañon Strait, the country's largest protected seascape that lies in between Cebu and Negros.

The Tañon Strait Protected Seascape (TSPS) is one of the more than 100 legislated protected areas covered under the newly-approved Republic Act 11038 or the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas Systems (ENIPAS) Act.

Jose Cleo Cary Colis, officer-in-charge of Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office PENRO in Cebu, said the Tañon Strait indeed has to be preserved since it is one of the richest concentrations of marine life across the globe.

Colis is now seated as the new Protected Area Superintendent, as the DENR-7 intends to streamline its programs.

For the regional office's foreshore assessment, Colis said the towns and cities in Cebu are being clustered and all deployed personnel are using standard application to harmonize all data.

The TSPS Protected Area Office, an arm of DENR-7 that oversees operations within Tañon Strait, is tasked initially to conduct an inventory and inspection at the so called Cebu southwest cluster.

Under this cluster are the towns of Badian, Dumanjug, Moalboal, Ronda, and Alcantara.

Steve Vincent Larona, legal assistant of DENR-7’s TSPS, said at least 275 structures in Badian alone were identified encroaching on the 20-meter easement zone, and most of them are residential structures.

Assistant Protected Area Superintendent Am Prospero Lendio said the inventory teams will move to the next town once the task for a certain locality is completed.

For now, only Badian town was finished with the inventory while others are still ongoing.

Lendio said the task for this cluster may be done by September or October.

The TSPS will go beyond foreshore inventory. Since these areas are along Tañon Strait, the teams will also conduct a biophysical assessment of the nearby mangroves, seagrass reefs, and coral reefs to also examine their condition.

The results of these inventories and surveys will be presented to the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB), the policy making body that may formulate rules or guidelines and agree on how to address the problems that may be found, said Lendio.

But Colis said that, at any time, the LGUs may individually implement removal of structures or any action as they hold police power.  Inspections along coastal areas, especially in top destination sites, had been ongoing after the controversy in Boracay Island broke out.

The DENR has initiated massive efforts to curb environmental violations such as encroachment on the standard easement zone. — GAN (FREEMAN)