7-pn: Stop the Desecration of Our Public Domain and Priceless Legacies!
Balita News
By: Carmelo L. Mabunay
ILOILO CITY, June 06(PNA)- If this provincial capital and regional
center of Western Visayas acquired the uncomplimentary distinction as
the dirtiest of the 14 urban centers in the Philippines according to a
survey conducted three years ago, it was because of the strewn and piled
up garbage all over this once proud "Queen City of the South."
The survey was conducted by no less than a government agency--the
Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG).
The garbage is still there, regardless of the protestations of Mayor
Mansueto Malabor and the proliferation of prominent signs proclaiming
this metropolis as "Clean and Green." With the onset of the rainy season
and consequential street of floods, all sorts of garbage have started an
endless fluvial parade.
Did you know that there is a place that has become the biggest
garbage dump in Iloilo City? It's not obvious to most, but it's
there--on the long coastal stretch from Barangay Molo Boulevard in Molo
district to Barangay Sto. Nino Sur, Arevalo district, a long distance of
some seven kilometers. In fact, that area contains the largest
collection of squatter colonies here. And where there are squatters,
garbage is not far behind.
The tragedy of it all is that all public lands in this particular
area comprise a park officially known as the Iloilo City Park. It was
declared as such under Rep. Act No.4767 approved on June 18, 1966,
thirty-three years ago. The Act is better known as the Caram Law after
its sponsor, the late Rep. Fermin Z. Caram, Jr., of the lone
congressional district of this city.
Section 1 of the Act reads: "Any provision of Law to the contrary
notwithstanding, the boulevard and all public lands between it and the
shores and the territorial waters from the District of Molo to the
District of Arevalo, all within the jurisdiction of the City of Iloilo,
shall be declared a City Park, to be known as Iloilo City Park. The
government of the City of Iloilo shall not sell, alienate or lease said
property to any entity or private person."
The law is silent on the ejection of persons already residing there
at the time of the approval of the enactment. However, it's implicit
that the entry into the area of newcomers is prohibited. But what
happened?
The Iloilo City Park was once upon a time a vast, clean and virtually
empty tract of land of fine sandy beaches graced by gracefully swaying
coconut trees as far as the eyes could see. A long portion of the area
in the west lured so many bathers, sightseers, and seafoods lovers that
it became famous all over the region--Villa Beach.
In spite of the degradation of that area, residents keep calling it
Villa Beach. Passenger jeepneys plying the downtown-Barangay Sto. Nino
Norte route sport "Iloilo City-Calumpang-Villa Beach" signs. Calumpang
is one of the six barangays traversed by the boulevard or coastal road
and Sto. Nino Norte is the west end of this particular route.
Because of its vastness and virtual emptiness, a long wide area in
the west was called "Calaparan," which means "wideness" in both Ilonggo
and Pilipino. The name stuck to one of the thirteen barangays of
Arevalo-- but in name only because the place is now congested with
various kinds of structures that continue marching with impunity towards
the edge of the water. It should now be called "kagutukan" ("kasikipan"
in Pilipino).
Kagutukan-- er, Calaparan-- is one of the youngest barangays of the
district, but it has the largest population of more than 13,000
individuals as of the 1995 census of the National Statistics Office
(NSO) as a consequence of unabated squatter invasion in progressively
increasing numbers. This has been possible only due to the tolerance and
even approval of the barangay authorities.
In fact, the council of one of the coastal barangays passed sometime
in September last year a resolution allocating a wide area on the shore
for the relocation of squatters in the Mansaya Creek vicinity in Lapaz
district. Two courageous councilors did not sign the resolution and
openly opposed the move. They were supported by numerous residents who
make a living out of fishing as well as by civic minded citizens.
Shortly after the resolution was passed, meanwhile, stout bamboo
trunks were stuck a few meters from the waterline at low tide to mark
the water limit of that long area and bulldozers moved in to level the
area and landfill the water portion. To stifle the growing protests, a
prominent resident who is also a high city hall official said that Mayor
Malabor had approved the plan. The regional office of the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) stepped in and backed the
protesters, who counted among them respected civic-minded residents in
the vicinity of the area.
Mayor Malabor later publicly denied that he had given his approval,
and development works stopped.
That aborted plan and the continuing invasion of squatters, some of
them professional, are blatant violations of the Caram Law. Will the
authorities leave it at that? There is basis to charge them under the
"Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act."
In the middle of April, Pres. Joseph E. Estrada, who won
overwhelmingly mainly because of the solid support of the masa, publicly
drew the line on the squatter problem.
He said that some squatters are choosy. "Binigyan na sila ng
relocation site pero ayaw nila. Namimili pa sila. Puwede ba naman yan?"
an exasperated President asked, according to a report of Philippine
Star.
Pres. Estrada also lashed out against professional squatters who he
said must be penalized to finally stop them from putting up shanties in
every imaginable corner. He noted the rapid increase of squatters and
squatting syndicates, adding that he had recommended to Congress a
measure to give more teeth to the judiciary in enforcing laws against
professional squatting.
Nature has endowed the Philippines with rich natural resources: thick
forests, fertile lands, countless rivers, streams, creeks and lakes,
mineral deposits, abundant fishing grounds and marine assets, a tropical
climate that nurtures the healthy growth of plants and wildlife.
Other countries are not as fortunate. They either have too little or
too much of certain environmental elements. For instance, most Middle
East countries are generally arid and have vast deserts, and countries
in frigid and extremities of temperate zones are blanketed with snow
most of the year.
And yet we are mightily trying to transform our lush forests and
fertile lands into deserts, our clean waters in rivers and seas into
polluted elements. In contrast, for example, Israel has succeeded in
making its deserts bloom and sea water potable.
Environmental degradation is going on everywhere in the Philippines.
Mindless industrialists, land developers and other members of the
business sector have not spared public parks, forest and marine
reservations, and historical monuments as well as tourism, recreational
and cultural spots--all of which belong to the public domain and are
beyond the commerce of man.
These are sacred, priceless legacies that should be cherished and
preserved.
An outstanding example of environmental desecration is the
destruction of large portions of the 2,000-year-old rice terraces of the
mountain provinces in Northern Luzon, considered as the "Eighth Wonder
of the World."
Early in this century, an American visitor who saw the rice terraces
for the first time exclaimed. "Here is a modification by man of earth's
surface on a scale unparalleled elsewhere--a massive, modification
beside which the Suez and Panama Canals are quantitatively
insignificant!"
When and where will the government draw the line? When environmental
degradation will have reached an irreversible point?
This is serious food for thought, especially now when the country is
observing "Environment Month." (PNA) bfm/wpt/NAG/ CLM/ :
PNA 06061444