Land grabbing rampant around Daang Kalikasan
IN CONSPIRACY WITH DENR?
UNSCRUPULOUS persons have started to take claims over large tracts of public lands on both sides of the still uncompleted Daang Kalaikasan in Mangatarem.
Mangatarem Mayor Ramil Ventenilla reported the obtaining situation in the area when he spoke before the Question Hour of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan on March 2.
He said his office is compiling names of private individuals claiming and seeking areas of public lands to be titled for commercial use, and will submit list to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan for its information.
Asserting that public lands such as those around Daang Kalikasan are inalienable and indisposable, Ventenilla asked the SP and other government agencies to stop the mass titling of lands in the area, knowing that titling of public lands cannot be done without the connivance of people in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and other regulatory agencies.
The provincial board is yet to pass a provincial ordinance declaring the Daang Kalikasan and Daang Katutubo and their surroundings as protected areas.
The Daang Kalikasan as well as the Daang Katutubo in Aguilar, both of which are under the Build, Build, Build, Program of the government, are presently closed to give way to the completion of construction of the two projects.
The Mangatarem municipal government is the head of the task force created by the Provincial Advisory Council; created by the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the PNP and now chaired by Lingayen Mayor Leopoldo Bataoil to oversee and protect the Daang Kalikasan from forest fires and vandals.
Likewise, the Aguilar municipal government heads the task force specifically for the Daang Katutubo.
Meanwhile, Mayor Bataoil warned that aside from speculators now claiming public lands in the area, another great danger that lies ahead is quarrying activities that may soon deface all mountains in the area and soon to cause erosion that will eventually destroy the Daang Kalikasan. (Leonardo Micua)
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