DAVAO CITY, Philippines – After the New Year’s Day incident where over a thousand people flocked to the Panigan-Tamugan River and littered the place with plastics and bottles, a Davao environmental group called out travel vloggers and social media influencers to take more responsibility to inform its followers to care for the environment.
The Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (IDIS) made this statement after its Bantay Bukid volunteers collected seven sacks full of single-use plastics, bottles, and other wastes from the watershed area of Panigan-Tamugan along barangays Carmen and Tawantawan.
IDIS executive director Atty. Mark Peñalver in an interview points out that travel vloggers and social media influencers promoted the visit to this watershed area that resulted in the influx of people.
He lamented that these people should have consulted with barangay officials or even with the city government as the area is restricted since the watershed is the source of drinking water for the city with a population of 1.7 million.
“We call the attention of these vloggers that they have to be mindful in promoting places like these without even researching about these places because people flock to these places because of what they post,” Peñalver explained.
“Access to the area for recreational activities should be limited or restricted,” he added.
Last November, IDIS called out a travel vlogger who posted a video on Facebook promoting the Panigan-Tamugan River.
IDIS has coordinated with the City Tourism Office (CTO) to check if these vloggers and influencers have been in touch with the city government to promote sites, which Peñalver believes the vloggers had not done.
The Davao City Council in 2021 passed the Ordinance Regulating Recreational Activities within the Watershed Areas of Davao City for the Protection, Conservation, and Preservation of the Natural Environment.
However, Peñalver said this local law was never enforced.
Aside from the existing ordinance, the watershed is also within the Critical Watershed Zone under the 2019-2028 Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance of Davao City. In addition, “constructing or maintaining any kind of structure, fence, or enclosure and conducting any business enterprise is also prohibited” including the “dumping or disposing of any waste product detrimental to plants, animals and inhabitants” within the watershed area under the Davao City Watershed Code.
Peñalver said that the current situation of the watershed calls for heightened action from the city government in enforcing the laws and regulations to ensure that the area will be protected against any kind of destruction.
He reminds barangay units surrounding the watershed, especially the newly-elected officials, to review the existing laws protecting the watershed area.
“Labi na sa barangay, ang barangay ang atong gina-awhag gyud nga to be more strict sa pagimplement sa atoang mga balaod kay naa man tay katong regulation sa recreational activities nga gina-ingon, ang barangay should take a proactive role in the implementing that pero karon murag wala nato nakita,” he said.
(Especially the barangay, we call on barangay officials to be more strict in implementing the rules, as there are regulations on recreational activities, the barangays should take a proactive role in implementing this, but so far we haven’t seen them acting on this.)
To further protect the watershed, IDIS is also proposing to declare the Panigan-Tamugan watershed as a protected area under the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS). The group is now coordinating with the Davao River Basin Management Alliance (DRBMA) to conduct a protected area of the Philippines study or assessment in the watershed.
They also requested the local government to add more Bantay Bukid volunteers from the community to cover the 13,975.47 hectares of the Panigan-Tamugan watershed. (davaotoday.com)
davao city, panigan-tamugan river, watershed
