DENR amenable to MCWD proposal over Buhisan rehab

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is amenable to the proposal of Metropolitan Cebu Water District for a joint effort in the protection and rehabilitation of the Buhisan watershed.

However, this will not stop the department from collecting the environmental protection fee, which is estimated at P30 million, from the water district.

Dioscoro Melana, regional technical director for the Protected Areas Wildlife and Coastal Zone Management Services of the DENR, said MCWD's proposal for them to work together for the implementation of a program for the watershed area could be discussed at the executive committee of the Protected Areas Management Board.

"His (MCWD general manager Armando Paredes) proposal could be addressed in the execom but the issue on the P1 per cubic meter will still be there," Melana said.

He explained that the collection of P1 per cubic meter of water taken from the Buhisan dam is already covered by the resolution, which the PAMB had sent to MCWD three years ago.

Melana admitted that MCWD's refusal to pay the environmental protection fee is a violation to the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act of 1992 but said that as far as possible they do not want to resort to legal means because they believe the issue should be resolved through "mutual consideration."

"We will only resort to legal action if wala nang mapag-usapang iba. The protection of the watershed is our main concern so we don't need to do legal action," he added.

Melana assured that their collection from MCWD would go to where it is intended because they already have a master plan, and the only thing that hampers them from implementing it is lack of funds.

"Their proposed project is different from the one that we are planning to implement. They could not compare Zamboanga from Cebu because we have different situations. Zamboanga's case should not be made a precedent," he added.

In a press conference last Thursday, environment-concerned sectors called on the public's attention to the state of the Buhisan watershed, where the MCWD dam/reservoir is located.

Being host to MCWD's water reservoir, DENR wants to collect up to P30 million representing environmental conservation fee from the water firm for the water that it extracted from Buhisan. The fee would be used to protect and rehabilitate the protected area.

But MCWD is not inclined to pay, saying it has already laid out a program for the protection of the watershed area.

MCWD general manager Armando Paredes said under the NIPAS Act, the water district is mandated to pay the environmental protection fee but with some exemptions.

Citing the case of Zamboanga City Water District, wherein it is exempted to pay environmental protection fee because it has its own program for the protection of its water source, Paredes said MCWD should also be exempted from paying such fee because it has also been doing reforestation of Buhisan.

Paredes said they even proposed to the DENR a joint effort in the reforestation of Buhisan and Mananga watersheds where their water reservoirs are located. - Wenna A. Berondo