DAVAO CITY. Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio has penned an executive order that reassembled the management council as part of the full implementation of the Davao City Watershed Code.
Executive Order No. 23 provides that the Watershed Management Council (WMC) along with the barangay watershed management councils and watershed multi-partite monitoring teams should be rebuilt to help protect and conserve the protected areas.
“There is a need to develop general directions for the interaction among government agencies and stakeholders, multi-sector participation and collaborative management . . . towards ensuring the health and sustainability of the watershed areas,” it cited.
Councillor Marissa Salvador-Abella said a text message the order was signed by the mayor on May 11. “But there is no date yet on when the different members of the council will convene,” she said.
The reconstitution was further lauded by an environmental group.
Lia Esquillo, executive director of Interface Development Interventions Inc., said that the reconstitution of the WMC sends a strong signal to environmental violators that Davao City is serious when it comes to protecting its last bastion of drinking water.
“Now that it has been issued, we look forward towards an active collaboration with the WMC as it begins to act on the issues which have long threatened the watersheds,” she said.
Published May 17, 2011, Mindanao Times.