Photo Release

Villar sponsors 11 protected area bills: Sen. Cynthia Villar, chairperson of the Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Climate Change, seeks the support of her colleagues for the passage of 11 proposed measures aimed at declaring several areas in the country as protected areas under the existing National Integrated Protected Areas Systems (NIPAS) Act.

Villar sponsored Senate Bill No. (SBN) 2252, the Paoay Lake Protected Landscape in Ilocos Norte; SBN 2614, the Aurora Memorial Protected Landscape; SBN 2203, the Mount Sawtooth Protected Landscape in Tarlac; SBN 1536, the Expanded Las Piñas-Parañaque Wetland Park; SBN 1691, the San Francisco Protected Landscape; SBN 1725, the Alibijaban Protected Landscape in Quezon Province; SBN 2616, the Mt. Masaraga Protected Landscape in Albay; SBN 355, Taklong and Tandog Group of Islands Natural Park in Guimaras; SBN 2617, the Panaon Island Protected Seascape in Southern Leyte; SBN 2618, Mt. Gutom Protected Landscape Act in Zamboanga Del Norte; and SBN 2619, the Sultan Naga Dimaporo Protected Landscape and Seascape in Lanao Del Norte.

"It is of paramount importance that we improve our protected area system for our own good — the resilience of our habitat, climate mitigation, the continued existence of our iconic and endemic species, and the ecosystem services that protected areas provide," Villar said Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (Voltaire F. Domingo/Senate Social Media Unit)