BONTOC, Mt. Province – Apprehensions of the people jeopardize the smooth implementation of the Integrated Natural Resources Management Project (INREMP)in some parts of the province.
Reports reaching the attention of this writer indicate that various communities around the province are not sold out to the proposed project interventions under the INREMP, a special project of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
The implementation of the $154.13 Million Integrated Natural Resources and Environmental Management Project (INREMP), a special project of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), has been reported to be encountering negative acceptance and other concerns that may hamper the smooth implementation of the 7-year project.
INREMP aims to introduce reforestation in its covered areas and bring livelihood opportunities to the communities.
A concrete instance of the said negative sentiments being brought to the media verbally is the perception that the implementation of the project will cause more disadvantages than benefits to the community.
Barangay officials and elders of Betwagan, Sadanga have forwarded a resolution denying the implementation of the INREMP and other related environmental and natural resources activities in the barangay.
The resolution dated February 10, 2015, but only recently made public, resolves not to accept the implementation of the INREMP in the barangay for the following reasons: most of the mountains are pasturelands and the community does not need the mountains to be reforested and that the indigenous way of managing the forest is still effective.
The barangay officials and elders also said that their previous experiences in the reforestation projects of the Cordillera Highland Agricultural Resources Management Project (CHARMP) have no material favourable effect on the mountains and forests.
The decision not to accept INREMP implementation in the barangay was a result of a community meeting 2 days after the conduct of an orientation on the implementation of the INREMP in the barangay which was attended by the barangay officials and community elders and people.
Information gathered revealed that other barangays also voiced out negative sentiments about the INREMP, but short of formal declaration as what the community of Betwagan did. Lingoy, Barlig was reported to have formally moved to defer the implementation of INREMP in the barangay.
Nearby community of Anabel, Sadanga was known to be harbouring doubts on INREMP. Village chief Ceasar Attong said that the community is polarized on the issue but a decision has yet to be made.
Over at Barlig, the barangays have also yet to favourably endorse the implementation of INREMP in their respective areas.
Joel Dangkiw, a staff at the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office in the province and designated to oversee the implementation of INREMP in the province, clarifies that the program is to benefit the communities under the coverage of the special project.
“The perceptions that the government will later on own the lands reforested is twisted. The communities own the forests, the mountains, and the resources thereat even after the project implementation”, he said.
According to Octavio Cuanso, OIC Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer, the main concern in the province is the issue on the non-tenurial areas of coverage. INREMP requires the project to be implemented in areas with tenurial documents, maybe titles, in the name of the beneficiaries.
Of the total 112 barangays in the coverage of INREMP, only 33 barangays have tenurial instruments and shall benefit from the project. The rest are problematic areas unless the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) comes out with a remedial measure such as a certification that the concerned areas are under ancestral domains or that the same have such applications.
Virginia Saley, OIC Provincial Officer of the NCIP in the province, hopes that the needed documents will be issued by their agency in due time.
Mayor Gabino Ganggangan of Sadanga said that “the action of Betwagan was misguided” insinuating that the resolution rejecting the implementation of INREMP in the barangay is not proper.
Meanwhile, Joel Dangkiw informed that their office beat the deadline of submission which was September 30, 2015 as they have accordingly submitted the proposals for INREMP to the regional office of the DENR on time.
