Iloilo City – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Mines and Geosciences Bureau Regional Office 6 (MGB-6) conducted a webinar to tackle government policy issuances governing river restoration through dredging activities on June 23, 2021, via Zoom video-conferencing platform.
More than eighty participants joined the virtual learning event from the provincial government environment and natural resources offices of the six provinces representing the office of the governors, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), DENR-6 regional technical divisions, PENROs and CENROs, Environment Management Bureau Region 6 and MGB-6 who.
DENR-6 OIC, Regional Executive Director (RED) Livino Duran said that the webinar is a needed forum for the stakeholders especially local government units to discuss the policies on dredging activities as an engineering intervention to clear, desilt, and de-clog heavily silted rivers, waterways and inland bodies to address flooding.
RED Duran said that the webinar aims to create an appreciation of the importance of the roles of concerned government entities, most especially the LGUs in the implementation of policies, and the roles of the three national government agencies – DPWH, DENR (MGB), and EMB – in the different aspects and phases of a dredging project. The webinar provides an opportunity for continuous inter-agency coordination in harmonizing the policy issuances. He welcomed the participants and thanked MGB-6 for organizing the learning event.
The resource persons were OIC-ORD Raul A. Laput, Mine Management Division Chief Engr. Florian T. Jimenez, and Mine Safety, Environment and Social Development Division OIC-Chief Engr. Johnny T. Matias of MGB-6, Engr. Sara Gellamucho, Senior EMS of the Clearance and Permitting Division of EMB-6, and Engr. Michael Alpasan, Engineer V of the DPWH-UPMO-Flood Control Management Cluster.
The resource persons discussed were the following:
- Joint Memorandum Circular No. 1 Series of 2019: Guidelines on the Issuance of Clearance and/or Permit for Dredging Within Waterways or Other Inland Bodies of Water (Specifically Section 5.1)
- MGB Memorandum Circular 2019-07: Clarificatory Guidelines on Section 5.1.2.C of DPWH-DENR-DILG-DOTR Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2019-01
- DENR Administrative Order 2020-01: Rationalizing Dredging Activities in the Heavily-Silted River Channels Within the Province of Negros Occidental Pursuant to the DENR-DPWH-DILG-DOTR Joint Memorandum Circular No. 1 Series of 2019
- DENR Administrative Order 2020-07: Rationalizing Dredging Activities in the Heavily-Silted River Channels Pursuant to the DENR-DPWH-DILG-DOTR Joint Memorandum Circular No. 1 Series of 2019
- MGB MC 2020-04: Clarificatory Guidelines for the Establishment of the Contingent Liability and Rehabilitation Fund for Dredging Projects/Activities Pursuant to the DPWH-DENR-DILG-DOTR Joint Memorandum Circular No. 1 Series of 2019
- Conduct of Programmatic Environmental Impact Assessment (PEIA) or Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)
- Issuance of Programmatic Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC)
- Conduct of Technical Assessment
- Preparation of Dredging Master Plan
- Establishment of River Dredging Zones
- Issuance of Dredging Clearance
- Issuance of Dredging Permit