Tabuk City, Kalinga – No less than Cordillera Environment and Natural Resources Director Samuel Penafiel publicly declared that if we depend on the regular funds of the government, it will take that long to rehabilitate the watersheds of the region.
He told the Regional Development Council (RDC) during its meeting here on August 15 that at the rate the government is allocating money for reforestation, 103 years is needed to rehabilitate the 150,000 hectares which the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) had identified as critical watershed areas in the region.
There is some hope though that with the help of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the 103 years will be shortened.
Penafiel reported to the RDC that the Chico River watershed master plan initiated by the provinces of Kalinga and Mtn. Province and which was endorsed by the RDC to the DENR central office has already been submitted to the ADB which said it will consider it as a priority under the integrated microresources and environmental management program.
He further said that at the moment, the technical working group which prepared the master plan is in the process of assessing and preparing feasibility studies for the priority programs identified in the master plan, one of which is agroforestry.
While awaiting the action of the ADB, the RDC is also looking for assistance from Regions 1 and 2, the two areas which depend on the watersheds of the Cordillera for their irrigation and hydro-electric needs.
Penafiel reported that plans are afoot for the conduct of an inter-regional summit of the three regions on watershed concerns on October or November with the end in view of coming up with plans on how to jointly address water resource problems.
Penafiel said that Regions 1 and 2 are complaining that while they have funds for irrigation, they could not build new irrigation systems because the funds go to the rehabilitation of the old ones “because you are destroying the watersheds in the Cordillera.”
Tuao, Cagayan for one is complaining that the Chico River is causing flooding and washing out of infrastructures in the town, Penafiel said.
“Each region should come up with how to rehab the watersheds. The two regions are looking at how they could help,” Penafiel said.
Ifugao Governor Teodoro Baguilat, Jr. declared that the complaints of Regions 1 and 2 should serve as an added motivation “to strengthen advocacy for the payment of our water by the national government and the lowland regions because the national government could not provide for immediate rehabilitation.”
“If only the upland communities get a share from water usage fees, they will protect the watersheds and consider them as their cash crops,” Baguilat said adding that the summit should at least come up with how much the two regions should be paying the Cordillera for the water.
Baguilat warned that for so long as the economic needs of the communities in the watershed areas are not met, they will continue to destroy the forest. According to him, there are instances when reforestation areas have been burned just so the people there could be hired again to replant.
Baguilat said that aside from providing livelihood for the upland people, there is a need for legislation which will compel the government to pay for water usage.
OIC-RDC Chairman Juan Ngalob informed that the scheduled regional watershed summit will serve as a preliminary to the inter-regional summit and that its intended output is a policy paper calculating the cost of immediately rehabilitation of Cordillera watersheds and also to maintain them after the rehabilitation.
Ngalob said that with the government hard-pressed to provide the money for the immediate rehabilitation of the watershed, the only option is to try to avail of official development assistance which means going through the National Economic Development Authority Investment Coordinating Committee “which calls for master plans and feasibility studies.”
He further said that in the end, it will be the national leadership which will decide on whether or not the Cordillera watersheds will be rehabilitated and that the role of the RDC is to gather the facts which will serve as basis for the political leaders to act.
“We are trying to package the watershed problem as a problem besetting the Filipino race in Northern Luzon whose future is imperiled unless the national government acts,” Ngalob said. **By Estanislao Albano Jr. -ZZW
He told the Regional Development Council (RDC) during its meeting here on August 15 that at the rate the government is allocating money for reforestation, 103 years is needed to rehabilitate the 150,000 hectares which the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) had identified as critical watershed areas in the region.
There is some hope though that with the help of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the 103 years will be shortened.
Penafiel reported to the RDC that the Chico River watershed master plan initiated by the provinces of Kalinga and Mtn. Province and which was endorsed by the RDC to the DENR central office has already been submitted to the ADB which said it will consider it as a priority under the integrated microresources and environmental management program.
He further said that at the moment, the technical working group which prepared the master plan is in the process of assessing and preparing feasibility studies for the priority programs identified in the master plan, one of which is agroforestry.
While awaiting the action of the ADB, the RDC is also looking for assistance from Regions 1 and 2, the two areas which depend on the watersheds of the Cordillera for their irrigation and hydro-electric needs.
Penafiel reported that plans are afoot for the conduct of an inter-regional summit of the three regions on watershed concerns on October or November with the end in view of coming up with plans on how to jointly address water resource problems.
Penafiel said that Regions 1 and 2 are complaining that while they have funds for irrigation, they could not build new irrigation systems because the funds go to the rehabilitation of the old ones “because you are destroying the watersheds in the Cordillera.”
Tuao, Cagayan for one is complaining that the Chico River is causing flooding and washing out of infrastructures in the town, Penafiel said.
“Each region should come up with how to rehab the watersheds. The two regions are looking at how they could help,” Penafiel said.
Ifugao Governor Teodoro Baguilat, Jr. declared that the complaints of Regions 1 and 2 should serve as an added motivation “to strengthen advocacy for the payment of our water by the national government and the lowland regions because the national government could not provide for immediate rehabilitation.”
“If only the upland communities get a share from water usage fees, they will protect the watersheds and consider them as their cash crops,” Baguilat said adding that the summit should at least come up with how much the two regions should be paying the Cordillera for the water.
Baguilat warned that for so long as the economic needs of the communities in the watershed areas are not met, they will continue to destroy the forest. According to him, there are instances when reforestation areas have been burned just so the people there could be hired again to replant.
Baguilat said that aside from providing livelihood for the upland people, there is a need for legislation which will compel the government to pay for water usage.
OIC-RDC Chairman Juan Ngalob informed that the scheduled regional watershed summit will serve as a preliminary to the inter-regional summit and that its intended output is a policy paper calculating the cost of immediately rehabilitation of Cordillera watersheds and also to maintain them after the rehabilitation.
Ngalob said that with the government hard-pressed to provide the money for the immediate rehabilitation of the watershed, the only option is to try to avail of official development assistance which means going through the National Economic Development Authority Investment Coordinating Committee “which calls for master plans and feasibility studies.”
He further said that in the end, it will be the national leadership which will decide on whether or not the Cordillera watersheds will be rehabilitated and that the role of the RDC is to gather the facts which will serve as basis for the political leaders to act.
“We are trying to package the watershed problem as a problem besetting the Filipino race in Northern Luzon whose future is imperiled unless the national government acts,” Ngalob said. **By Estanislao Albano Jr. -ZZW
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