DENR urge public to protect, conserve caves
By Hazel F. Gloria
CEBU CITY, March 9 (PIA) -- The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)-7 Regional Executive Director Maximo Dichoso recently urged the public to support the campaign for the protection and conservation of caves.
Dichoso made the call as caves are non-renewable natural resources with important scientific, economic, educational, cultural, historical, and aesthetic values.
Caves are any naturally occurring void, cavity, recess or system of interconnected passages beneath the surface of the earth or within a cliff or ledge located either in private or public land. It is large enough to permit an individual to enter and is either naturally-formed or man-made.
Caves are also home to specialized mineral formations with unique and diverse flora and fauna, he said.
Cave protection and conservation is one of the priority programs of DENR Secretary Ramon JP Paje.
The protection and conservation of caves is mandated under Republic Act 9072 otherwise known as the “National Caves and Cave Resources Management and Protection Act” which was passed on April 8, 2001.
Under this Act, DENR is tasked to formulate, develop and implement a national program for the management, protection and conservation of caves and cave resources with agencies such as the National Museum, National Historical Institute, Department of Tourism, and local government units concerned.
The law considers as prohibited acts the following: destroying, disturbing, defacing, marring, altering, removing or harming the speleogen or speleothem of any cave or altering the free movement of any animal or plant in or out of any cave.
Dichoso also cited the gathering, collecting, possessing, consuming, selling, bartering or exchanging or offering for sale of any cave resource without authority as violations of said law.
Data from the Protected Areas, Wildlife and Coastal Zone and Management Services (PAWCZMS) revealed that 352 caves have been recorded, discovered and mapped since the start of the implementation of the Caves Management and Conservation Program in 1994 in Central Visayas.
Bohol has the most number of caves in Central Visayas with 190 or 53.98%, followed by Cebu with 146 caves or 41.48%, Siquijor with 10 or 2.84% ,and Negros Oriental with six or 1.70%.
Caves may be open for public view only after the result of the Rapid and Detailed Cave Assessment conducted by the DENR Regional Cave Assessment and Classification Team (RCAST) has been issued.
“Open caves do serve special purposes such as sites for educational tour, exploration, survey, and mapping, scientific research and venues for cultural and religious practices,” he said.(rmn/PIA-7/hfg/DENR-7)