Batangas City fails in environment protection-DILG

Batangas City—The city that hosts the famed center of the center of marine biodiversity in the world happens to have a failing grade in environmental protection where marine life is in danger.

     This was how the Department of Interior and Local Government’s Local Governance Performance Management System (LGPMS) assessed this city’s performance or lack of it the environment sector.

     According to the LGPMS study which was done in 2009, and posted on 2010, the city failed in the coastal marine ecosystems development with a rating of only 2.36 which is going from poor to bad as a rating of 3 is considered fair.

     The study also revealed that the city’s marine life is in danger. Mangroves loss is high as its mangrove cover has been depleted to below 50% of the original area. Benchmark rate should not be lower than 50%.

     It showed that the city’s marine productivity is also at risk. The study further showed that coastal fish catch has decreased for the past five years. Many squatter households were observed on coastlines, and marine environment is at risk due to probable pollution loads.

     This city is fronting the Verde Island Passage which was declared by the World Conservation Union as the “center of the center of marine biodiversity,” and home to 1,736 marine species, or 60% of the the world’s fishes, the biggest in the world. But the presence of polluting industries in coastal areas added weight to the study’s conclusion that the city’s marine life is already in danger.

     But it wasn’t only the presence of sources of pollution that puts the marine ecosystem of Verde Island Passage in danger. The illegal trade of endangered species like the dried fins of the gentle thresher sharks discovered in 2008 was never stopped.
     What was stopped that time was the campaign to protect the endangered sharks as the officer of the non-government organization that started the call to protect the thresher sharks had to cool down and leave the city due to death threats he had been receiving.
     Even the state of freshwater ecosystems has also been on the failing side as fish catch in river has decreased over the past five years, while the presence of polluting industries in riverside has been observed. This could also contribute to the poor freshwater quality in the city that the study found out.
    The LGPMS is an on-line national information system on local governments. It is a self-assessment, management and development tool that enables local governments – provinces, cities and municipalities – to determine their capabilities and limitations in the delivery of essential public services. It also say where the local government failed and the areas where it should improve on.
     The web-based system has the ability to produce information on the state of local governance performance, and the state of local development, using governance and development indicators.
     The study also rated the elementary completion rate in the city as extremely low, while secondary completion rate is objectionable and concluded that the quality of human capital is at risk. On the unemployment side, the study rated the city’s status as alarming.
     In the state of urban ecosystems area, the study revealed that tree cover in urban areas falls short with the desirable condition while air quality is at stake and uncomfortable due to the presence of polluting industries .
     Despite the city’s active support on agriculture, the LGPMS’s assessment stated that the percentage of irrigated land to total irrigable land is too low, while agricultural land development is not of priority and the potential to increase agricultural produce is very weak while crop production indicates very low agricultural land productivity.
    The Southern Luzon Inquirer tried to interview the new mayor Vilma Abaya-Dimacuha in her office on her first day of office, but wasn’t granted the interview. Her son lawyer RD Dimacuha, who is now the executive secretary said they will have to hold a meeting about this problem first.
     According to Batangas city administrator Philip Baroja, who used to be the city’s environment and natural resources officer, the city is classified as industrial, which means the LGPMS would have reclassify it as soon as the city’s investment plan comes out. (Mei Magsino).