PAGADIAN CITY, ZAMBOSUR - The Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is moving forward with the
implementation of a new law seeking to reforest some 3,000 hectares throughout
Cagayan de Oro City, in a bid to prevent a repeat of the devastation inflicted
by typhoon “Sendong” in 2011.
Sendong left more than 1,200 people dead and
destroyed P1.3 billion in agriculture and properties in Cagayan de Oro and
nearby Iligan City.
DENR Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje said a six-member
validation team has been formed to identify the areas to be covered by the
massive reforestation program in the Misamis Oriental capital, as mandated under Republic Act (RA) No. 10452.
Paje said the validation team, composed of forestry
and urban planning officers, is tasked to prioritize barangays surrounding the
Cagayan de Oro River which, in 2011, failed to hold the huge amount of rainfall
brought by tropical storm Sendong that eventually poured into low lying areas
of the city and triggered deadly flash floods.
Last month, President Benigno Aquino III signed RA
10452 that mandates the DENR to plant trees in 3,000 hectares of public land in
Cagayan de Oro to protect its people and its environment from floods and
landslides.
The reforestation program seeks to avoid a repeat
of the disaster left by Sendong in Cagayan de Oro in December 2011. Another
severe flooding hit the city in January 2009.
Paje reiterated that the law complements the Aquino
administration’s forest policies – the National Greening Program (NGP) and the
total log ban– aimed at fighting the adverse effects of climate change.
“The enactment of RA 10452 came at a most opportune
time, just as the national government is making an unprecedented push to
reforest the country through the NGP and the nationwide logging ban in natural
and residual forests,” Paje pointed out.
NGP is the government’s flagship reforestation
program that seeks to plant some 1.5 billion trees covering about 1.5 million
hectares in six years ending in 2016.
Agustilo Obsioma, DENR Region 10 technical director
for forestry, said the areas to be prioritized under RA 10452 are barangays
along Cagayan de Oro River that were badly hit by Sendong.
The program, he said, will also include former
concession areas covered by timber license agreement earlier issued by the
government.
Obsioma said the ground mapping and validation of
these areas, using the global positioning system (GPS) technology, would take
at least two weeks.
According to the DENR, Cagayan de Oro’s forestland
area covers 20,702 hectares or about 48 percent of the city’s total land area
of 42,246 hectares.
The DENR Region 10 reported that at least 11
low-lying villages along Cagayan de Oro River were seriously hit by the 2011
flashfloods: Carmen, Consolacion, Balulang, Macasandig, Nazareth,
SitioTaguanao, and Barangays 6, 7, 13, 15, and 17. (pr rpao)
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