Senator Cynthia Villar has renewed her call to take action for the country's wetlands and appeal to the public to protect them from disappearing.
Villar, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, made her call Tuesday during the celebration of World Wetlands' Day held at Las Pinas Parañaque Wetland Park (LPPWP).
"In all candidness, this is no mean feat for a state like the Philippines to follow. With our country's archipelagic nature, we have an abundant number of wetlands that call for much-needed attention," she said.
Villar said that even the United Nations encourages its annual celebration to raise public consciousness on wetlands, which are critically important ecosystems contributing to biodiversity, climate mitigation and adaptation, freshwater availability and to economies.
Although there are some 314 inland wetlands and 2,487 river systems, Villar lamented that the public and even the government do not fully recognize and appreciate the significance of wetlands amid her consistent pleas.
"And what is even worse is that there are even people within the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) who should know the significance of wetlands, yet have chosen to be ignorant of it," she said.
For instance, she said LPPWP, which is tagged as endangered despite being established a critical habitat, is always under threat of being destroyed due to various reclamation projects in Parañaque and Cavite.
The lawmaker hit the DENR - Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) for issuing Environmental Clearance Certificates to these reclamation projects.
"Apart from the destructive effect to the wetland park, one of the issues I wish to point out to EMB is that the 286-hectare Paranaque reclamation project will obstruct the free flow of water coming from Paranaque River, which is connected to the Las Pinas River in my hometown," Villar said, adding that the project may also trigger massive flooding in Las Pinas, Paranaque and nearby places in Cavite.