Pagadian City – The Department of Environment
and Natural Resources (DENR) Region 9, Jose Rizal Memorial State University
(JRMSU)-Katipunan Campus and the local government unit of Katipunan recently
forged a partnership in the management, protection and development of Ikogan
Cave in Barangay Sanao, Katipunan, Zamboanga del Norte.
The Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for
the management, protection and development of said cave was signed by DENR-9
Regional Executive Director (RED) Arleigh Adorable together with JRMSU
President Edgar Balbuena and Katipunan Mayor Crisostomo Eguia, Jr. during the
opening ceremony of the 1st Zamboanga Peninsula Caving Summit
bearing the theme “Strengthening Cave Conservation Towards Sustainable
Ecotourism.”
The caving summit was attended by
spelunkers and cave enthusiasts from all over the region.
RED Adorable said, the MOA will “cement”
a partnership to craft a management plan for the development of Ikogan Cave as
a world class ecotourism destination for cave enthusiasts and showcase it as a
living museum owing to the fact that this cave host a unique type of
biodiversity and intact formations of speleogens and speleothems.
Mayor Eguia welcome the
partnership as this will be a big help to boost tourism in his municipality. He
further pledged his full support in terms of local law enforcement to stop the
exploitation of cave resources particularly the harvesting of bats and cave
vandalism.
Dr. Balbuena also assured
the full support of JRMSU as students will be made available for extention
services in the area of Ikogan cave such as the conduct of tree planting
activities and generation of awareness in the community.
The summit was
organized by the DENR 9 Regional Cave Assessment Team (RCAT), aims to
capacitate cavers and spelunkers particularly LGUs on the Cave
Management and Conservation Program of the government. (JPA/CAL/R
Tan/DENR9-RPAO/ PIA9)
