MORE NEWS, CAGAYAN

Four-day Northern Luzon environment caravan held

TUGUEGARAO CITY – North Luzon’s own version of people’s caravan for the environment kicked off Tuesday in Cagayan’s northernmost town and ended in Pampanga following a number of stopovers for environment-related fora along the way.

The four-day 500-km North Luzon leg of the motorcade, dubbed Lakbay Para sa Kalika­san para sa Buhay at Kinabu­kasan” was part of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – led 18-day nationwide caravan leading to the world’s Earth Day celebration on April 22 with the country’s theme for this year “Tubig ay Buhay - Ating Pagyamanin at Linisin.”

DENR Cagayan Valley Director Clarence Baguilat said the region’s leg of the caravan started in Santa Praxedes, Cagayan and culminated at SM Pampanga on April 4.
The caravan featureed information dissemination on the government programs and activities that would mitigate the effect on global warming.

This year’s United Nations-initiated Earth Day celebration, he said, also aimed to generate further awareness for environmental protection and conservation.

The four-day caravan had its several stops for brief environmental fora in Isabela, Quirino and Nueva Vizcaya before proceeding to Pam­panga where the participants from all over Luzon and other parts of the country meet for the culminating activities, which featured an environment fair on climate change and global warming, solid waste management, wildlife conservation and the government’s Green Philippines program.

In his memorandum order to the DENR regional office, Environment Secretary Jose Atienza Jr. said that the caravan intended to draw and encourage participation of various sectors to include local government units, national government agencies, the academe, non-government organizations, church, business sector and the public at large on the need to protect and conserve the environment. -- CL


Cagayan town wants 116-year-old lighthouse declared a historic site

SANTA ANA, Cagayan – Officials and residents of this northern coastal town, described as one of the “Boracays of the North,” want the national government to declare its 116-year-old lighthouse a cultural and heritage site to save one of remaining Spanish-era structures in the country from further ruin.

Mayor Norberto Victor Rodriguez said their long-pending bid for the National Commission on Culture and the Arts and National Historical Institute to declare Cape Engaño, one of the 27 lighthouses built during the 400-year Spanish occupation, a historical and heritage site, has again been brought to the fore in the wake of the edifice’s deteriorating state.

The lighthouse, now under the lighthouse division of the Department of Transportation and Communications, used to be the “guiding light” to sailors and fishermen, including Spanish and Chinese merchants plying the Batanes and Babuyan Claro seas and the Pacific side of Northern Luzon.

“The alarming state of the lighthouse has awakened our consciousness to find ways to preserve it not only as a part of our local history but also as a part of the country’s cultural heritage,” said Dindo Danao, who hails from this northernmost Cagayan town.

Though still sturdy, the lighthouse, also known as El Faro de Cabo Engaño, has been vandalized and many structures in its compound no longer have roofs, exposing them to the elements.

“The NHI was astounded by what they saw in the lighthouse and said that it would take at least P5 million to rehabilitate it. Instead, they suggested that the building’s present condition be maintained to prevent its further deterioration,” said Gloria Jamora­bon, the town’s tourism operations assistant officer.

Earlier, the Santa Ana-based Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, which is attached to the Office of the President, said there have been talks with the Spanish government for possible support in reconstructing the fortress-like structure, made of bricks of volcanic sources and which stands on volcanic rock. – CL