DENR partners with
ESSU to protect ecologically rich islets in Guiuan, Eastern Samar
By Philippine Information
Agency (PIA 8)
March 28, 2013
TACLOBAN CITY – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources
and the Eastern Samar State University recently inked a memorandum of
agreement in a bid to protect and develop the ecologically rich Monbon
and Batan Islets in Barangay Bungtod, Guiuan, Eastern Samar.
In a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) inked last March 18, 2013, the DENR
grants rights to ESSU for the special use of the 21.8 hectares Monbon/Batan
Islets and pursue the implementation of activities related to
sustainable management of coastal and marine resources in said islets.
The MOA provides that the management of the said islets shall now be
jointly undertaken by the two parties, DENR Regional Executive
Director Manolito Ragub informed.
Monbon/Batan Islets forms part of the total 60,448 hectares Guiuan
Marine Reserve Protected Landscape and Seascape (GMRPLS), a protected
area under the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act
of 1992 or Republic Act No.7586.
Under the agreement, the ESSU represented by its Administrator, Andres
Pagatpatan, Jr., commits adherence to prescribed environmental
protection measures as it makes use of the Monbon/Batan Islets and its
vicinities.
Sustainable activities to be pursued include among others: resource
and habitat conservation, protection, rehabilitation, and introduction
of ecotourism projects for educational and research purposes.
On the other hand, the DENR through its Regional Executive Director
Manolito Ragub, shall delineate and demarcate the exact boundaries of
the islets and provide ESSU the map of the area which could be used in
planning and implementing project activities.
Being inside the GMRPLS, the activities of ESSU in the Monbon/Batan
islets shall be duly indorsed by the GMRPLS Protected Area Management
Board, the governing Board of GMRPLS which has a multi- sectoral
membership, RED Ragub said.
GMRPLS PAMB endorsed the approval and issuance of a Special Use
Agreement within Protected Area (SAPA) per PAMB resolution No. 004
dated October 2009.
However, meantime that the SAPA issuance is still suspended, operation
of the ESSU is legally based on the Special Land Use Permit, this MOA,
and the provisions in the Local Government Code of 1991, RED Ragub
added.
The DENR Director said the agreement shall cover a period of 3 years
renewable for another 3 years, until a SAPA is in place.
ESSU is a duly recognized government academic institution mandated by
law to provide quality advanced education, research and extension
services particularly in the province of Eastern Samar where Monbon/Batan
Islets are located.
The DENR recognizes the need to involve various stakeholders such as
ESSU and other agencies particularly the Bureau of Fisheries and
Aquatic Resources, non-government organizations in the management and
protection of areas like Monbon/Batan Islets, RED Ragub concluded.