Villanueva lauds signing into law of amendments to NIPAS

We laud the recent signing into law of a significant measure that would safeguard our protected areas from destructive human exploitation.

Republic Act 11038 or An Act Declaring Protected Areas and Providing for their Management, a law amending the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act, strengthens our government's thrust to protect our environment by establishing a mechanism for the mobilization of resources and providing adequate scientific and technical support for the preservation and sustainability of our ecosystem.

We are proud to be one of the authors of this important legislation as it guarantees additional protection to biologically important public lands that are habitats of our rare and threatened species of fauna and flora.

We thank our colleagues in the Senate and counterpart in the House of Representatives for pushing the enactment of this bill into law.

We also express our deepest gratitude to President Duterte for supporting our well-meaning cause that would ensure sustainable use of resources and preserve our genetic diversity.

Indeed, this is a big stepping stone toward securing a well-preserved natural heritage for the present and future generation of Filipinos.