The Watershed Management Council (WMC) of the City Government of Davao on Tuesday gave a lecture on the protection of watershed areas in Barangay Tambobong, Baguio District.
The lecture is part of the council’s much wider Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) program which advocates for the sustainability of watersheds by educating communities near watershed systems on the 2007 Watershed Code. This was carried out by WMC committee members from the City Administrator’s Office, City Legal Office, City Planning Development Office, City Environment and Natural Resource Office, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples.
Barangay Tambobong, which encompasses Mt. Dipolog and some parts of Tamugan River, holds a vast watershed zone classified as environmentally critical area under the Watershed Code. As such, no part of the conservation area in Tambobong may be illegally occupied, converted, or developed for commercial use.
Residents, community leaders, and representatives of indigenous groups of the area– led by Barangay Captain Exquil Salandao –were reminded of the vital role watersheds play in the city’s water supply and the crucial need to maintain equilibrium in the ecosystem to sustain it.
WMC Head of Secretariat Atty. Karmela Tongo said the protection of watershed areas has become more critical now that the city’s water supply is not just sourced from aquifers or underground water but also from the surface water of the Tamugan River.
The establishment of a functioning Barangay Watershed Management Council was stressed during the lecture, highlighting the crucial role the barangay government must take in the conservation effort, specifically in terms of the implementation of zoning policies and the apprehension of violators to the Watershed Code.
During the same lecture, a report on the new Davao City Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) 2019-2028 by the CPDO was presented to the community, specifying that the barangay is predominantly an Agro-forestry area subject to stringent regulation and close monitoring. In line with this, residents were asked to be on the lookout and report any illegal activities that may endanger the area’s ecosystem such as deforestation, kaingin, mining, unregulated tourism, and others.
In the coming months, the WMC will be conducting more such lectures in other barangays in a bid to secure environmentally critical areas within the city. CIO
