ZAMBOANGA CITY – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) led by Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga, Mayor John Dalipe here, and other officials formally unveiled the Pasonanca Natural Park as the 52nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations heritage park in a ceremony in Sitio Canucutan, Barangay Pasonanca, this city, on Monday, May 13.
THE Pasonanca Natural Park was unveiled as the 52nd ASEAN Heritage Park during ceremonies in Barangay Pasonanca, Zamboanga City. (Mayor John Dalipe page FB)
A monument featuring a pyramid structure and an eagle was unveiled. The pyramid symbolizes the park’s natural diversity while the eagle embodies the Philippine Eagle inhabiting the area.
Dalipe thanked the ASEAN Center for Biodiversity, DENR, and partner-institutions for the recognition.
Loyzaga described the Pasonanca Natural Park as a natural gem that stands as the primary source of clean, fresh, and potable water for nearly a million residents here.
She also said that it is one of the remaining secondary and old growth dipterocarp forests in the Zamboanga Peninsula.
Pasonanca Natural Park is the 10th ASEAN Heritage Park in the Philippines and the first in Zamboanga Peninsula.
It is home to hundreds of species of flora and fauna, most of which are rare and endangered.
It was initially recognized as the Pasonanca Watershed Forest Reserve through Presidential Proclamation 199 issued on December 17, 1987.