By Cheryl A. Galili
PALAWAN GOVERNOR Joel T. Reyes firmly said the provincial government and the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) are not changing their appeal for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to declare Mt. Mantalingahan in southern Palawan as a “protected zone.”
In a media conference he rarely calls, the governor said he was the one who created the Mt. Mantalingahan Management Planning Task Force (MMMPTF) by virtue of Executive Order (EO) No. 10, Series of 1998, as a response to the interest of the mayors of Bataraza, Brooke’s Point, Sofronio Española, Quezon and Rizal to establish the Mt. Mantalingahan Protected Area (MMPA) within the precepts of the Strategic Environmental Plan (SEP).
As agreed, a task force was created to begin the formulation and planning of the MMPA, he explained.
“As governor, I was the one who created by virtue of an executive order, the Mt. Mantalingahan project as early as 2001 because of the recommendation of the municipalities straddled by it, and the support from the barangays and Conservation International (CI),” he stated, adding it was CI that made the position paper to declare the area a reservation.
In EO Order No. 24, Series of 2001, it was stated that the PCSD Proclamation No. 7 of March 2000 declared Mt. Mantalingahan as a “special management area (SMA),” which is the Mt. Mantalingahan Management Area (MMMA), primarily to enable local government units (LGUs) to undertake measures to protect, conserve and manage its natural resources and promote socio-economic development under the SEP principles.
It stated further that the local executives of the municipalities covering the MMMA have signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) in April 2001 in accordance to the protection of the area.
Reyes, who is also the chairman of the PCSD and the Regional Development Council-MIMAROPA (RDC), said that he endorsed it to the Palawan Provincial Board (PB), approved it as governor, and endorsed it also to the PCSD and RDC, and later forwarded to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
“Right now, that is already with the DENR and hopefully, that has already been submitted to the Office of the President for her information and approval,” Reyes said to the media.
The declaration of Mt. Mantalingahan into a “protected zone” is currently the bone of contention between pro-responsible and anti-mining advocates, that both drag into the controversy the rights of indigenous communities in the surrounding areas.
An IP group that calls itself Brooke’s Point Federation of Indigenous Communities or Brofetrics, is strongly opposing the plan, which they claim would encroach on their rights to manage their ancestral domains.
Reyes said he can only speculate about this, and believes there are “organizations” behind. “I can just say and speculate that there are organizations and people behind this. We have laid our position on this officially, and as far as ECAN (Envrimental Criticial Areas Network) is concerned, I don’t see the provincial government or the PCSD retracting its position. We have to be very consistent about our position,” he said.
As chair of the PCSD, Reyes added that he is aware of the economic contributions of Palawan to the national government, particularly in mining.
Per record, as of 2007, Reyes disclosed that more or less US$1.7 billion in income has been contributed by the province to the national government due to mining. Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corporation in Bataraza (RTNMC) threw in around US$300 million and US$200 million more from other mining companies operating in the province.
Despite this, the governor added that the welfare of the environment should be considered and not neglected just because the province is contributing to the country’s income.
