Envi group hopes SC will issue TRO vs Samal Bridge project

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews) – An environmental group hopes that the Supreme

Ecoteneo director

Mylai Santos told MindaNews that they hope to secure a TRO on the project because the national agencies are not heeding their calls to save Paradise Reef, a 7,500-square meter Amarine creatures.”

“I just hope that the people will see that the issue is not about property rights, but rights of nature and, in the end, the rights of our children to a climatesecure future,” she said.

Environmentalists here hope the High Court would exercise its “wisdom as it has in previous and even environmental cases” when it decides on the petition for “continuing mandamus and prohibition” with an application for TRO.

She said the people's in the face of ecological risks and threats. The bridge project, she added, is not just about the “road right of way issue,” reiterating the group’s previous calls to realign the bridge project to a location with the least direct ecological costs.

The landing point of the SIDC project, also known as the Davao CitySamal Bridge, is situated on the coast of Costa Marina Beach Resort, which is adjacent to Paradise Island

MORE THAN 19,000 children were rescued from child labor with the direct intervention of the Department of Labor and Employment XI.

In a May 25 statement, DOLE XI announced that it recorded 19,455 total withdrawn children from child labor from 2018 to 2022. The figure represented 77.58% of the total estimated children in precarious situations in the region.

DOLE XI’s Child La-

BY NICOLE BAULOS BURLAS

bor Prevention and Elimination Program profiled 25,077 children across Davao Region who were engaged in hazardous working conditions in agriculture, mining, domestic labor, and other sectors.

Davao del Norte has the highest number of pro-prising 6,785. Although, more than 90% or 6,142 children in said province within that period were withdrawn as of March 2023.

According to DOLE XI, indicators of withdrawal from child labor are age, provision of services, long-term assistance such as livelihood grants for parents, and rescue operations like Sagip Batang Manggagawa.

“While the reduction is notable, our work is far from over. DOLE XI calls upon all sectors of society to join hands and contribute to the cause by reporting any instances of child labor and support - ing initiatives that uplift the lives of vulnerable children,” said DOLE XI Regional Director Atty. Randolf C. Pensoy.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, there is an increase in working children ages 5-17 from 2020 to 2021.

In 2021, there were 1.37 million working children in the entire country. This exceeded the number of working children in 2020 at 870,000. Among

Park & Beach Resort in Barangay Caliclic, Babak District of the Island Garden City of Samal (IGACOS).

The Rodriguez family owns both resorts.

On the Davao City side, the landing point is situated along R. CastilloDaang Maharlika junction in Barangay Hizon, crossing over a marine protected area of Barangay Hizon, which is included in the

Comprehensive Land-Use Plan (CLUP) 2018-2028.

The family previously offered to donate another property, Caliclic Beach Resort, located about a kilometer away from Paradise Island, as an alternative site for Davao-Samal Bridge project’s landing point as its coast no longer has a coral reef capable of supporting a diverse marine

DAVAO CITY – The regional offices of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Davao (DENR-11) and Soccsksargen (DENR-12) have joined hands for the management and conservation of the Mt. Apo Natural Park (MANP) UNESCO Global Geopark (UGGP) conscription process.

In a Facebook post on Monday, directors Bagani Fidel Evasco of DENR11 and Felix Alicer of

DENR-12 shared their initial discussions last week, outlining the strategies to enhance the management of the protected area.

"With what we have discussed, we ensure that it’s all aligned with the goals, mandates, and direction of the agency," Evasco said.

Mt. Apo, with a total land area of about 64,000 hectares, is one of the most popular nature-based