The People’s Agriculture Plan for 21st Century Inc. has joined the call of those who oppose the proposed entry of Philippine National Oil Company-EDC in the Mt. Kanlaon Natural Park buffer zone, a press release from the group said.

Joel Alapar of PAP 21 Inc. said in the press release that PNOC-EDC’s presence in the buffer zone will send a wrong signal and open the floodgates for mining and logging exploratory activities in the area.

The move also contravenes the National Integrated Protected Areas System Law that prohibits any environmentally destructive activities within the protected areas of MKNP, Alapar said.

He added that PAP 21 believes that PNOC’s proposed exploration activities in the buffer zone will result to denudation of forest land in the protected area and it will have a drastic effect in the campaign against climate change, the press release said.

The Negros forest in Mt. Kanlaon plays a strategic role in Negros’ agriculture since it hosts the Bago River which supplies the water use in rice fields, vegetable farms and sugar farmlands in the area, he said in the same press release. He added that the group enjoins the provincial government to take a strong stand against moves to explore inside the buffer zone and not to allow in the name of energy any crime against the people and the environment to be committed, the press release said.*

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