Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Roy Cimatu has proposed the immediate dredging of Cagayan River and planting of some 200 million tree seedlings on low-lying agricultural areas in Cagayan following one of the worst flooding in the province in decades.
Cimatu said these interventions, which we can be started immediately, can make a significant difference.
He cited that the DENR has been continuously conducting reforestation activities in Cagayan through the Enhanced National Greening Program (ENGP) with focus on upland areas.
DENR Undersecretary Jonas Leones said that despite efforts to rehabilitate the forest through the ENGP, "climate change is already inevitable."
"All we need to do is to adapt to the effects of climate change" by focusing on "infrastructure development" such as the dredging of Cagayan River, Leones said during the Laging Handa public briefing on Monday.
Cimatu said low-lying agricultural areas, including privately-owned lands, should now be included in the coverage of ENGP.
Cimatu attributed the intensity and frequency of typhoons and their unusual volume of rainfall to climate change.
The DENR chief said he has already approved the request of Cagayan Governor Manuel Mamba for the dredging of the Cagayan River covering some 30 kilometers.
According to Cimatu, dredging will solve the existence of a constricted section of Cagayan River called Magapit Narrows. This narrows snakes through the towns of Alcala, Lal-lo and Gattaran.
He noted that 18 major rivers in Quirino, Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela and the Cordillera Administrative Region drain into the Cagayan River, making the province prone to flooding.
Cimatu explained that the bottleneck sites in the Magapit Narrows significantly hinders flow of flood water to the Aparri Delta and finally to the Babuyan Channel.
He said the dredging will improve the volume capacity of Cagayan River “at no cost on the part of the government” as the provincial government is now looking for a contractor.
The contractor will be allowed to sell the dredged minerals, with the government earning revenues from the dredging at the same time, as stipulated in DENR Administrative Order (DAO) 2020-07 titled “Rationalizing Dredging Activities in Heavily-Silted River Channels Pursuant to the DENR-DPWH-DILG-DOTR Joint Memorandum Circular No.1 Series of 2019”.
The DAO rationalized dredging activities in heavily-silted river channels across the country to help restore their natural state and flow and reduce flooding.
It requires the contractor to shoulder all the expenses of the dredging operation in exchange for whatever minerals it may recover, provided it pays the required national and local taxes.
Leones said the DENR will also continue its reforestation efforts under the ENGP.
"Sierra Madre is one of our protected areas. This is the longest mountain range from Cagayan province to Quezon province. It is true that there is a lot of logging there although I can say that 70 percent of Sierra Madre is still vegetated," Leones pointed out.
He also noted that the DENR continues to provide livelihood to the upland communities "because we noticed that aside from commercial logging the communities there are converting the forestland to agricultural land, where they plant cash crops in the sloping area."
The DENR is conducting massive information dissemination campaign to ask the communities "not to convert our forestland."
"We are no longer providing them cash crops but perennial crops, which are agrforestry crops to provide them food and at the same time protect our forests," he added.