“There is a need to strictly collect fees and charges, allowed by law, for those who visit and use the facilities and resources of our protected areas,” says Tirso P. Parian, Jr., Regional Executive Director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Region 8.
RED Parian made the statement to address the issue of non-collection and avoidance in the payment of fees by visitors to protected areas under the management and supervision of the DENR.
“If we are to finance the projects and sustain the operation of these protected areas, we need to strictly impose the collection of entrance fees and other resource use fees,” RED Parian said during the series of Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) meetings recently conducted.
The PAMB is the highest policy-making body of a protected area with the DENR Regional Executive Director as its Chairman and presiding officer. It is composed of stakeholders from municipalities and barangays within the protected areas, concerned government agencies, non-government organizations and elected officials like the governor, district representative and in the case of a senator, if he is duly registered resident of the city or province where the protected area is located and does not decline membership.
Under Sec. 16 of R.A. 7586 or the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 1992, as amended by R.A. 11038 or the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 2018, all protected areas shall establish a trust fund to be known as the Integrated Protected Area Fund (IPAF) for purposes of financing the projects and sustaining the operation of protected areas and the System.
Through DENR Administrative Order (DAO) No. 2016-24 which provides for the revised rates of fees for entrance and use of facilities and resources in protected areas, a proportionate amount of all costs incurred in protecting, maintaining and enhancing the natural attractions of the protected area may be imposed as entrance fee and other collected revenue.
“In the collection of the standardized entrance fee, an aggressive information dissemination must be conducted with the support and cooperation of local government units and barangay officials concerned to make the people understand the importance for the imposition of fees. For now, we shall adopt the minimum entrance fee in all protected areas in the region,” says RED Parian.
Under DAO No. 2016-24, a minimum entrance fee of Php30.00 for every Filipino citizen and Php100.00 for every foreigner shall be collected. Meantime, students are at a discounted fee of Php15.00 while persons with disabilities (PWDs), senior citizens and children below 7 years of age are exempted from paying. Likewise, indigenous peoples and tenured migrants living in the protected area are also exempted from paying fees for access to and traditional use of resources in the protected area, provided they are not for commercial use or for trade.
Throughout Eastern Visayas there are 7 legislated protected areas. These are Samar Island Natural Park (SINP) and Calbayog Pan-as Hayiban Protected Landscape, both in Samar province; Guiuan Marine Reserve Protected Landscape and Seascape (GMRPLS) in Eastern Samar; Biri-Larosa Protected Landscape and Seascape (BLPLS) in Northern Samar; Mahagnao Volcano Natural Park (MVNP), in Burauen and La Paz, Leyte; Lake Danao Natural Park (LDNP) in Ormoc City; and Cuatro Islas Protected Landscape and Seascape (CIPLS) in Hindang and Inopacan, Leyte.
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- Parent Category: News & Events
- Category: Press Releases
- Published: 01 April 2020