Move to protect Ormoc’s Lake Danao on

ORMOC CITY – Let’s help protect Lake Danao.

Thus appealed Alfredo Pascual, regional director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), to members of the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) and the city tourism council and other stake­holders.

“Let us not allow the lake to deteriorate any further,” Pascual said during the second consultative meeting among the DENR, the city tourism council and other stake­holders at the Pongos Hotel here Friday.

“If we can still do it now, then let us strengthen our partnership and stay together because we (DENR) cannot do it alone,” he added.

In an interview, Pascual said he was saddened to learn that disease-causing E. coli bacteria, which come from human waste, contaminate the lake.

He said this problem should be resolved early because the lake supplies water to the Leyte Metropolitan Water District, which serves 180,000 consumers in Tacloban City and the towns of Palo, Tanauan, Tolosa, Dagami, Pastrana, Sta. Fe, and Tabontabon.

Pascual said he plans to mobilize the PAMB to manage and monitor all activities in the lake, a major tourist attraction in this city.

Pascual expressed disappointment while watching the slideshow of city tourism council member Edwin Codilla showing an area within the forest beside the lake that was denuded by kaingin or slash-and-burn farming.

Pascual said he would assign a permanent protected area superintendent who would act as the DENR’s chief operating officer at the site.