Government abolishing three DENR offices in Region 3

CABANATUAN CITY – A controversial rationalization plan of the national government seeking to streamline government agencies through mergers, abolitions and downsizing of personnel and employees will result in the abolition of three community offices of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Central Luzon.

Regidor de Leon, DENR regional executive director for Central Luzon told The STAR that the community environment and natural resources offices or CENROs in Talavera, Nueva Ecija; Baler in Aurora; and Cabanggan in Zambales, will be abolished under the Rationalization Plan for the DENR in line with EO 366 issued by President Arroyo.

De Leon said that under the plan, whose staffing pattern has been submitted to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), provinces with three community offices will only have two.

He said if he could have his way, he would prefer that the province of Pampanga, the regional capital, which only has one CENRO, will have two.

CENRO-Talavera, which is under Raul Batang, holds jurisdiction over nine municipalities in Nueva Ecija among them Pantabangan and Bongabon covering 33,688.6 hectares of forestlands. It covers 1,486 hectares of the Nueva Ecija portion of the 5,676-hectare Aurora Memorial National Park and the protected areas of the Carranglan and Pantabangan watersheds.

CENRO-Baler, which is under Jeremias Casala, operates central Aurora, including Barangay Villa in Ma. Aurora where rampant illegal logging activities had been noted over the past months.

The plan, according to critics, could result to mass lay-offs unless the affected employees are absorbed by other offices attached to the DENR.

With the imminent abolition of CENRO-Talavera, affected employees would be absorbed by CENRO-Cabanatuan and CENRO-Muñoz while those from CENRO-Baler would be absorbed by CENRO-Dingalan and CENRO-Casiguran.