The proposed budget increase would bankroll some of the agency’s new initiatives such as the creation of Enforcement Bureau

DENR would need a bigger budget to manage a broader range of protected areas safeguarded under the law.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is requesting an additional budget of P3.036 billion to fund the programs it intends to implement next year.

“We are hopeful the budget augmentation will be included in the final version of the 2020 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) to be passed by Congress — the House of Representatives and the Senate — and signed into law by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte,” DENR Secretary Roy A. Cimatu said.

The proposed budget increase would bankroll some of the agency’s new initiatives such as the creation of Enforcement Bureau, the full implementation of the Republic Act 11038 or the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System (E-NIPAS) Act of 2018; and land titling.

The environment chief made the appeal days after Bienvenido Veguilla Jr., a DENR forest ranger, was killed by suspected illegal loggers in El Nido, Palawan.

Cimatu stressed that with its own Enforcement Bureau, the DENR could effectively enforce environmental laws and protect its workers from violent encounters with illegal loggers.

DENR — through Undersecretary for Policy, Planning and International Affairs Jonas Leones — submitted the proposed augmentation budget of the agency last 16 September 2019 to the House.

In a letter addressed to House Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte, Leones said DENR would need P1.2 billion for the establishment and initial operation of the proposed Enforcement Bureau in 2020.

Leones said the agency would also need P1.8 billion for the full implementation of E-NIPAS law, and P36 million to fast track the issuance of titles for alienable and disposable public lands.

According to Leones, the creation of an Enforcement Bureau within the DENR is in line with the Duterte administration’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda, particularly peace and order. It would enable the department to “fully implement and enforce laws on environment and natural resources (ENR) with full authority to police illegal loggers and ENR violators.”

The DENR official also cited the need for “full logistic support” for the implementation of the E-NIPAS law and the acceleration of public land distribution.

“Still, under the 10-point agenda of the president, to be specific is to ‘ensure the security of land tenure’ to encourage investments and address bottlenecks in land management and titling,” Leones pointed out.