ROEL CATOTO
Online news contributor
SAN JOSE, DINAGAT PROVINCE: Surigao del Norte 1st district Rep. Glenda Ecleo wants to repeal Presidential Proclamation No. 391, stating her concern among others is for the protection and cultivation of the environment.
On March 13, 1939, then President Manuel Quezon signed Presidential Proclamation No. 391 declaring more than 18,000 hectares of the mineral-rich Dinagat Islands as a mineral reservation area.
Now, the provincial government wanted to get rid of this law and has passed a resolution recommending its repeal to Ecleo.
In defending the provincial government’s stand, the congresswoman said the environmental, agricultural and economic status of the newly-created province of Dinagat Islands will be stagnant if this law will not be repealed.
Once abolished, Dinagat Islands will then have full authority over all the land areas under its jurisdiction, unlike in the present set-up wherein the province could not touch on some areas because the presidential proclamation prohibiting it, she said.
She added that since time immemorial, areas surrounding Dinagat Islands have been gradually destroyed by poachers, illegal loggers and miners. This “has only brought destruction to the environment particularly the rainforest, natural resources and the natural structure of the land,” she said.
“Naay mga areas nga dili makagalaw ang probinsiya at this moment because these are still owned by the national government. Since we are now a newly created province, we will go for a larger scope. This is the reason that we need to repeal the proclamation,” she said.
With the said development, Ecleo requested the provincial government to cancel all dormant mining applications with the DENR-MGB.