DENR-WV Gives Full Support for Cultural Mapping of Panay and Guimaras

 Iloilo City- In line with the recent signing of Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the conduct of Cultural Mapping for Panay and Guimaras (CMPG), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Region 6 as the lead agency in the protection, conservation and management of the region’s environment and natural resources to include natural heritage, and one of the signatories in the MOA created its Department’s Working Committee to assists and provide information for the cultural mappers. This working committee consists of the technical and documentation personnel especially in the Forest Land Use Plan (FLUP).

Based to the Regional Special-Order No. 2024-445 the DENR Working Committee shall: (a) Assist the UPV research team to gain access to the collections of DENR documents concerning natural resources of all the provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo and Negros Occidental; (b) Assist the UPV research team in the use and interpretation of the data acquired from the resources of the DENR for the substantiation of cultural mapping forms produced for the project; (c) Provide the UPV team with softcopies of the Forest Land Use Plan (FLUP) with thematic maps for each municipality in Panay, Guimaras, and Negros Occidental; (d) Provide technical assistance and supervision for UPV in mapping the natural resources of the communities; (e) Give full cooperation in other areas that are consistent with the objectives of the project and in accord with the stipulations of the MOA.

“We will assure the cultural mappers that we will give them our full support in this endeavor. We also want to know the hidden diverse cultures in our provinces and look into the natural landmarks, to map it out,” said DENR 6 Regional Executive Director Livino B. Duran.\

This CMPG project aims to produce an inventory of cultural assets of the provinces and will serve as a tool for concreting knowledge-based platforms equipped with the traditional and cultural patterns of local communities. This is in line with the Republic Act No. 11961 also known as the “Cultural Mapping and Enhanced Cultural Heritage Education Program” authorized by Sen. Loren Legarda, which mandated the LGUs to conduct a comprehensive cultural mapping of their respective areas of jurisdiction. /DENR6