PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan — A survey on coastal easement zone will be done by the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) in the area of the Palawan underground river, or the Puerto Princesa City Subterranean River National Park (PPSRNP).
Elizabeth Maclang, PPSRNP park superintendent, said the survey will start on Thursday, March 8, to see if any structure is violating the 30-meter no-build easement zone.
“All those who put up their structures on the prescribed easement zone will have to move backward,” Maclang said Monday morning.
She added the PAMB will give them enough time, or at least “one year” to self-demolish and move their structures at Sitio Sabang, Barangay Cabayugan here.
“Establishments at Sitio Sabang, Barangay Cabayugan, are cooperative enough to observe established environmental rules and regulations because they believe it’s for their own benefit,” she assured.
Maclang said the management has already implemented the easement zoning rule even before the national government launched a crackdown on erring establishments in El Nido, Boracay and other tourism destinations.
“We did it before when we started with small structures. If you remember, before there were kiosks on the coastal easement zone, but now you can see they’re gone after they voluntarily self-demolished,” she said.
Maclang said the surveying team will be composed of experts from the PPUR Management Office, local offices of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Palawan Council for Sustainable Development and concerned non-government organizations. (Keith Anthony Fabro/PNA)
