Payumo supports Subic-Bataan park

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT – Officials of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) yesterday voiced their support for the creation of a natural park in the boundaries of Bataan and the Subic Bay Freeport Zone to protect and conserve wildlife habitats that environmentalists said have great ecological importance.

This as the Senate and House committees on natural resources began here yesterday a three-day public consultation and technical workshop on six priority bills seeking to establish protected areas in various parts of the country.

Among the sites proposed to be declared as protected area is the Subic Bay Wastershed Forest Reserve, which contains five distinct ecosystems spread in more than 10,000 hectares of forests, grassland, and mangrove swamps.

SBMA Chairman Felicito Payumo said three bills have been filed to classify the Subic reserve as a natural park under the National Integrated Protected Area System (NIPAS). These were filed by Rep. James Gordon Jr. of Zambales, Rep. Antonio Roman of Bataan, and Sen. Robert Jaworski, chairman of the Senate committee on natural resources.

Payumo said the SBMA is inclined to support the bills introduced by Jaworski and Roman. – Bebot Sison