ADB approves grant to Palawan to help prevent turtle poaching

The Asian Development Bank has approved a P1-million grant to Palawan to help address marine turtle poaching and other illegal activities in the province’s southernmost municipality of Balabac.

Governor Abraham Kahlil Mitra, in a press conference on Thursday, said the grant facility aimed to provide alternative livelihood to communities to discourage poaching and other environmentally destructive activities.

Balabac has been frequently targeted by foreign poachers, mostly Chinese, seeking marine turtles. Government enforcers involved in more recent operations to stop marine turtle poaching have observed that some members of local communities were working in cahoots with foreign poachers.

Also on Thursday, Palawan received from Hong Kong authorities a shipment of rare and critically endangered freshwater turtles and other animals highly prized in the black market pet trade which were confiscated from a travelling Chinese national the other week.

Among the cargo were 39 Philippine forest turtles, rare species found only in Palawan, 19 Mindanao water monitors, 49 Asian box turtles and a reticulated phyton.

While in previous years, Chinese turtle poachers have been arrested and detained in Palawan, recent cases showed a pattern where locals were capturing the endangered marine turtles using capital and equipment provided by Chinese buyers.

“This grant will help transform those communities and wean them away from temptations to engage in illegal activities,” Mitra said.

He said the ADB and the Department of Foreign Affairs signed an agreement in July to implement the grant.

Balabac has also been cited by environmentalists for mangrove destruction, done mainly by debarking the trees for tan bark which are used as raw material for the manufacture of cloth dye and medicines.

Source:

• http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/244003/palawan-gets-grant-to-prevent-turtle-poaching

Palawan reapportioned into three legislative districts

By virtue of Republic Act 10171 signed by President Aquino last July 19, Palawan is reapportioned into three legislative districts to commence in the next national and local elections. The new law takes out Aborlan and Puerto Princesa City from the second congressional district and reapportions these to the third congressional district.

The Act, which originated in the House of Representatives, was passed by the House and the Senate on January 24, 2012 and June 4, 2012, respectively. Under the Act, the municipalities that comprise the current first legislative district of the Province of Palawan will remain without any change in its composition.

The municipalities include Agutaya, Araceli, Busuanga, Cagayancillo, Coron, Cuyo, Culion, Dumaran, El Nido, Linapacan, Magsaysay, Roxas, San Vicente, Taytay, and Kalayaan.

The following municipalities will compose the second legislative district: Balabac, Batarasa, Brooke's Point, Narra, Quezon, Rizal, and Sofronio Española.

The third legislative district, meanwhile, will be composed of the City of Puerto Princesa and the municipality of Aborlan.

The incumbent Representatives of the Province of Palawan shall continue to represent their respective districts until the new Representatives have been elected and qualified.

The Commission on Elections is tasked to issue the necessary rules and regulations to implement the Act, which will take effect 15 days after its publication in Filipino newspapers of general circulation.



Source:

• http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2012/07/27/aquino-reapportions-palawan-3-districts-234324

Palawan to fight mango weevil

The Sangguniang Panlalawigan approved in its last regular session an ordinance that formally establishes the Mango Pulp Weevil Action Team hoping to end the pest that had been ailing the mango industry for 24 years now.

The ordinance, authored by Rolando Bonoan Jr., board member, prescribes the duties and responsibilities of the local government units and the Mango Growers Association of Palawan.

In his speech at the regular session, Bonoan said that the Mango Pulp Weevil Action Team (MPWAT) will ensure the effective and efficient implementation of the mango pulp weevil eradication program in the province.

He said that with the Action Team together with the DA, provincial government, and the Mango Growers Association of Palawan aims to put an end to the two decades-long struggle of the industry and the issues and concerns of the mango growers.

The MPWAT will work to eradicate mango pulp weevil in Puerto Princesa City and in southern municipalities which include Aborlan, Narra, Quezon, Sofronio Española, Brooke’s Point, Rizal, Bataraza, and Balabac. It also hopes to strengthen the mango industry by gaining market access outside the province, and to intensify plant quarantine service operations in Palawan.

Mango is one of the high-value commercial fruit crops in the province. There are about 248,000 mango trees in plantations in Palawan. Based on the findings of the Department of Agriculture (DA), Palawan mangoes are sweeter than those in other parts of the country.

In 1987, the Bureau of Plant Industry imposed a quarantine on Palawan mangoes prohibiting its movement, transfer, and carrying outside of the province. Because of this, Palawan slid from rank 15 among the mango-producing provinces in the Philippines in 1990 to rank 29 in 2009.

Bonoan is hopeful that this problem will be addressed with the creation of the MPWAT, and use of new technologies, researches and protocols.


Source:

• http://www.pia.gov.ph/news/index.php?article=711342755310