Local governments want city, municipal waters delineated

Seventeen provinces, 50 municipalities and four cities, including the capital city of Manila, want their municipal and city waters delineated this early in a growing favorable reaction to the recent issuance of Administrative Order 17 by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, providing the technical guidelines in the measurement of water boundaries.

Commodore Renato Feir of the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority said the immediate response of 71 local government units (LGUs) simply shows the acceptability of the guidelines to define the geographic extent of the taxation or revenue-generating powers of cities and municipalities.

The 1,496-strong League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) and more than 100 non-governmental organizations and fisherfolk groups earlier passed complementary resolutions supporting the immediate implementation of the order, now popularly known as "DAO 17."

The Local Government Code of 1991 mandates LGUs to manage their coastal resources. The Fisheries Code of 1998 defines the water boundaries of LGUs as extending to 15 kilometers from the coastline, including offshore islands.

The 1987 Constitution protects the rights of marginal fisherfolk in the preferential use of municipal waters.

LMP national president Ramon Guico Jr. said that since the first Conference of Coastal Municipalities in 1998, the league has been barraged by requests from mayors for the delineation of their municipal waters following the experience of Bohol and Masbate where the management of coastal resources resulted in dramatic increases in fish catch.

"The time is up for us to manage our municipal waters hands-on because of the near collapse of our marine resources. If we do not act now it will be too late before we can save the ocean," said Guico, who directed all coastal municipalities to include a coastal marine resource program in their annual investment plan.