House panel OKs bill declaring parts of WPS ‘protected areas’
THE House committee on natural resources on Wednesday approved House Bill (HB) No. 6373, which designates certain areas in the Kalayaan Islands Group (KIG) in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) as marine “protected areas.”
HB 6373, authored by Palawan Representative Edward Hagedorn and sponsored by CIBAC Party-List Rep. Bro. Eddie C. Villanueva, aims to declare as “Marine Protected Areas” (MPA) the area three-nautical miles (around ten square kilometers area) surrounding the islands of KIG and Scarborough Shoal to protect the country’s marine resources in the area.
According to the bill, as per local studies, the three-nautical miles area (roughly ten square kilometers) protected area is preferable as it will already give “safe and protected habitat space for young marine organisms to grow.”
Villanueva said he emphasizes that the bill is only for protecting the marine environment – particularly in the Kalayaan Islands – which is situated within the country’s exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and “nothing about territorial disputes” in WPS.s
He said that a study by the UP-Marine Science Institute in 2019 found that coral reefs in Kalayaan Islands – particularly in Pag-asa Island, Panata Island, and Sabina Shoal – were already damaged by, apparently, illegal activities such as blast fishing. The bill is thus an operationalization of proposals from local marine experts to declare the Kalayaan Islands as MPAs to protect the coral reefs therein.
A 2014 study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) showed that the Kalayaan Islands comprise 30% of the country’s total coral reefs and serve as the breeding grounds for fish and marine species in the country.
“Fishes and marine life breed in the coral reefs of Kalayaan Islands and the eggs and fingerlings are carried by sea currents to other parts of the country’s seascapes where they thrive, grow, and are eventually caught by fishermen. Coral reefs are the breeding ground or the ‘nursery’ of marine life. If reefs are destroyed, we nip marine life at its bud. Thus, to allow the destruction of the coral reefs in Kalayaan Islands will adversely impact fish production in the country and in several adjacent countries,” said the CIBAC solon in his sponsorship speech.
The bill will prohibit and penalize certain acts and activities within the waters of the 3-nautical mile area to guarantee the protection of marine habitat.
Villanueva clarified, however, that it will still allow traditional fishing as it is considered generally harmless to the marine ecosystem. The bill will also create a Kalayaan Island Group and Scarborough Shoal Protected Area Management Office (KIGSS-PAMO) and a Joint Congressional Oversight Committee to ensure effective implementation of the provisions of the proposed measure.
“We acknowledge that there are tensions relating to [territorial] claims in the West Philippine Sea. However, we cannot afford not to act because the habitat of marine life in our waters, which benefit not only the Philippines but also the adjacent countries like China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei, [is] being destroyed. We need to protect the biological productivity of our Kalayaan Islands in order to sustain our ever-increasing demand for marine produce,” said Villanueva, who also chairs the House Committee on Sustainable Development Goals.
Representatives from different government agencies, including the Department of National Defense (DND), express full support for HB 6373.
“At the end of the day, the ultimate owner of the West Philippine Sea is not any human being, government or country. It all belongs to God because the Bible says the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. We are just mere stewards who are entrusted with its care so we should do our part to conserve and nourish its majesty and abundance,” Villanueva ended.
