Feature: ASEAN body to launch Mt. Malindang as Heritage Park

By Rutchie C. Aguhob

Sunday 29th of July 2012

The ASEAN Center for Bio-diversity (ACB) is set to launch the Mt. Malindang Range Natural Park (MMRNP) as an ASEAN Heritage Park (AHP) on Aug. 4.

The MMRNP becomes the 3rd heritage park in Mindanao, next to Mt. Kitanglad RNP in Bukidnon and Mt. Apo Natural Park in Davao; and the fourth in the country after Mt. Iglit Baco National Park in Mindoro, Rodrigo U. Fuentes, executive director of ACB, said.

The establishment of the MMRNP is by virtue of Republic Act No. 9304, that stresses the importance of an area's unique biological resources and aesthetic and ecological importance.

Otherwise known as the “Mt. Malindang Range Natural Park Act of 2004,” RA 9304 ensures the protection and preservation of MMRNP, its communities, their culture and way of life, said Governor Herminia Ramiro, who authored such RA, when she was still the representative of Mis. Occ.’s second district.

RA 9304 also ensures the protection and conservation of biodiversity, sustainable and participatory development, advance, and protect interests of its legitimate inhabitants and honor customary laws, she said.

It takes care of non-renewable resources found within the protected area of the MMRNP, the natural replenishment rate of which, is either not known or takes more than 25 years.

It also considers the protected species of plants and animals that are or shall be declared as protected under the Philippine laws, rules and regulations issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), listed as protected against trade, hunting, and harvest.

Meanwhile, the MMRNP Protected Area covers parcels of land located in the three cities of Misamis Occidental, namely, Oroquieta, Ozamiz, and Tangub.

Also covered are the towns of Concepcion, Sapang Dalaga, Calamba, Lopez-Jaena, Aloran, Panaon, Jimenez, in the first district and Sinacaban, Tudela, Clarin, Bonifacio, and Don Victoriano, in the second district pf Mis. Occ.

The Park starts from Barangay Tiaman, Bonifacio town, containing some 34,694 hectares with a buffer zone of 118,334 ha.

Participation of the local government units (LGU) in the management of MMRNP is through representation in the Protected Area Management Bureau (PAMB) and retain their ordinance-making powers over the territory covered under RA9304.

On the other hand, zoning of the protected area gives primary consideration to the traditional zones used and recognized by indigenous cultural communities, unless, such uses are deemed detrimental to biodiversity and protection of the natural characteristics of the protected area.

Likewise, the indigenous cultural communities include, but not limited to Subanens, who have continuously lived as communities on communally bounded and defined land since time immemorial and have succeeded in preserving, maintaining, and sharing common bonds of language, customs, traditions, and other distinctive cultural traits.

As a protected area, the MMRNP prohibits the following: hunting, destroying, trapping, and disturbing or possessing any wild plants or animals or products derived from anywhere within the park.

Cutting, gathering, collecting, or removing timber or forest products entry to the protected area or processing outside the protected area any wild plants and animals or products are also prohibited.

Mineral exploration or extraction, drilling or prospecting for minerals, and constructing or maintaining any kind of road, structure, fence, or enclosure within the MMRNP without a permit from the PAMB is illegal. (PIA 10, Mis. Occ.)