House panel OKs substitute bill declaring portion of Philippine Rise as protected area

The House committee on natural resources approved Wednesday the still unnumbered substitute bill of the measure seeking to declare a portion of the Philippine Rise as a protected area, with the category of marine resource reserve, under the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS).

House Bill 36 or the Philippine Rise Marine Resource Reserve (PRMRR) Act was authored by Muntinlupa Representative Ruffy Biazon.

The bill aims to protect portions of the Philippine Rise region, namely the Benham Bank and its surrounding waters, through sustainable and participatory management, taking into consideration all applicable laws and international conventions to which the Philippines is a signatory.

The areas outside of the strict protection zone shall be designated as the Multiple-Use Zone and the Special Fisheries Management Area (SFMA) pursuant to Republic Act No. 11038.

Under the measure, there shall be a Special Fisheries Management Area within the PRMRR under the jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

The DA-BFAR will monitor all the fishing activities within the SFMA as well as ensure coordination and harmonization of the PRMMR Management Plan and provide technical and financial aid, if necessary.

The substitute bill was approved despite the objection of Deputy Speaker Lito Atienza. He raised territorial concerns if only a portion would be declared as a protected area.

"Would it be to our advantage to limit the intentions of this bill to a small area when tomorrow, China becomes present again in that area and declare the area as part of their territorial, ancestral, historical whatever..." Atienza said during the panel meeting.

"I do not agree that we should limit our claim to a portion or an area as defined in this amended version," Atienza said.

Biazon, for his part, said "the passage of this bill in its form is in no way a surrender of what was granted to us, our rights over the Benham Rise or the Philippine Rise," noting that there is no limitation being done.

He added that declaring it as a marine preserve would give the Philippines more opportunity to take advantage of the natural resources.

The Philippine Rise, a 13-million hectare undersea plateau off Aurora province, is part of the country's exclusive economic zone.

Tension arose after Atienza had claimed that the committee, chaired by Cavite Representative Elpidio Barzaga, was railroading the passage of the measure.

Barzaga denied and stressed that the matter was carefully discussed during the meeting of the technical working group.

"We are not railroading, this is the rule of majority," Barzaga said.

Atienza pointed out that the committee chairperson was prohibiting him from raising some important points on the issue. But for Barzaga, he already provided enough time for Atienza to speak.

"You are not allowing free discussions of the issues that I'm raising, kawawa naman ang bayan," Atienza said.

Barzaga also said Atienza supposedly did not attend the TWG meetings on this bill.

The deputy speaker, for his part, vowed to raise his points on the floor. — RSJ, GMA News