Talisay dads endorse forest land use plan

CEBU, Philippines - Talisay City Councilors Charles L. Basillote and Bernard Odilao suggest that the city government sign a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for the preliminary conduct and actual implementation of the Forest Land Use Plan (FLUP) . 

According to Basillote and Odilao, the FLUP will serve as the city’s plan to improve its forest resources so as to make them more productive and to provide socio-economic benefits to upland occupants. 

Section 16 of Chapter 2 of the Local Government Code of 1991 or R.A. 7160 states that every local government unit shall ensure and support, among other things, the preservation and enrichment of culture, promote health and safety, enhance the right of the people to a balanced ecology, encourage and support . . . all other initiatives to ensure and preserve the comfort and convenience of their inhabitants. 

“A Forest Land Use Plan, a document integrative to every LGU’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP), will ensure sustainable management of forests and forest lands providing environmental, social and economic benefits to the LGU and the society in general,” the resolution read. 

Basillote, who is the chairman of the committee on barangay affairs, said the barangays, from whom all data will be sourced, are the primary stakeholders and beneficiaries should an FLUP be implemented in the city. 

The DENR has the technical expertise in the preparation, establishment and implementation of an FLUP and can provide direction for the City of Talisay in managing the city’s forests and forest lands in the context of sustainable forest management, biodiversity management, disaster risk reduction and management, climate change adaptation, as well as the reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. 

If the city council approves the resolution, Mayor Socrates Fernandez will represent the city in all its business transactions and sign in its behalf all bonds, contracts, and obligations, and such other documents upon authority of the Sangguniang Panlungsod.  (FREEMAN)