IMAGINE an entire forest teeming with endemic flora and fauna. This is how experts describe a protected area (PA) called Mount Mantalingahan Protected Landscape (MMPL) in Palawan province, the country’s last ecological frontier.
Located 140 kilometers southeast of Puerto Princesa, the capital of Palawan, MMPL is both a wildlife sanctuary—and nature’s pharmacy—because of its abundant supply of plants with pharmaceutical values.There are several PAs in Palawan—the Calauit Game Preserve and Wildlife Sanctuary, Coron Island Protected Area, El Nido-Taytay Managed Resource Protected Area, Malampaya Sound Protected Landscape and Seascape, Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park and Ursula Island Game Refuge.
While the potential to develop mutually beneficial arrangements with universities or pharmaceutical companies in the MMPL remains untapped, environmental advocates are fretting of the adverse impact of destructive human activities that threaten MMPL’s rich biodiversity.
Key biodiversity area
MMPL has a total land area of 120,457 hectares. It encompasses the five towns of Quezon, Rizal, Sofronio Española, Brooke’s Point and Bataraza. It is a protected landscape by virtue of Proclamation 1815 signed on June 23, 2009, by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said Mount Mantalingahan, from which the MMPL got its name, is a key biodiversity area (KBA). Towering at 2,085 meters above sea level, Mount Mantalingahan’s forest is host to a good number of plants and animal species, many of which are endemic to the island-province.
Important watersheds
MMPL is a major source of water for domestic, agriculture and fisheries of the residents in the surrounding municipalities, of which farming is a predominant way of life. South Palawan contains approximately 60 principal rivers, of which 45 drain from the Mantalingahan range.
Thirty-three watersheds could be found in the MMPL, mostly within Rizal and Brooke’s Point. Two of the watersheds, which are micro-sized with an area of less than 1,000 hectares, are small watersheds ranging from 1,000 to 10,000 hectares, while 10 are medium, which range between 10,000 to 50,000 hectares.
There are 11 vegetative cover types in MMPL. Forest covers about 100,000 hectares, approximately 79 percent of MMPL’s total land area. Around 89.8 hectares are old growth forests, 14.6 hectares are mossy forest, while 6.3 hectares are residual forest.
Rich in biodiversity
DENR-BMB Director Theresa Mundita S. Lim said what makes MMPL unique is its richness in terms of biodiversity. “Mount Mantalingahan’s forest remains intact. It is unique because being an island-province, Palawan became less exposed to different threats. What makes it unique is the presence of a variety of plants that have pharmaceutical values,” Lim said. The harmonious existence of man and biodiversity is present in Mount Mantalinhangan.
“The forest takes care of the communities as long as the people in the communities take care of the forest,” she said.
With at least 351 plant species across 214 genera and 92 families, the MMPL has one of the highest concentrations of plant species. Of these, 16 species are economically important. Half of these plant species, however, are threatened and endangered.
Citing a 2007 study by Conservation International (CI), eight plant species were previously undescribed by scientist and at least five species are new for Palawan.
Likewise, the report says the forest area of Mount Mantalingahan is teeming with important tree species, which make up the habitat of different fauna of Palawan. The important hardwood species found in Rizal and Quezon are ipil, nato, manggis, apitong, amugis, malugai, durian and dao.
In Sofronio Española, Brooke’s Point and Bataraza the important forest tree species found include apitong, malugai, amugis, nato, lomarao and Agoho del Monte.
The CI study also said 95 species of vertebrates, comprising of 17 species of mammals, 45 birds, 23 reptiles and 10 amphibians thrive in MMPL. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists 16 as restricted-range species, 19 as vulnerable, two as endangered and two as critically endangered. During the 2007 study, CI discovered a new species of finch and a new species of shrew, as well as a species of pouch bat previously unrecorded for Palawan.
Cultural practices
Communities living within and near MMPL exhibit mixed cultural practices, since most of them are indigenous peoples (IP’s) and came from different places within the region. Their means of living is the conventional method and indigenous knowledge in farming and gathering of forest products.
MMPL is an important source of medicinal herbs for personal use among the people in surrounding communities.
Most IP’s receive medical services from the barangay health workers, barangay nutrition scholars, medical missions and private clinics in the cities and barangays (although scarce in some rural areas). But some IPs, especially those in IP-dominant communities, continue to use traditional healing practices and herbal medicine.
Lim said many pharmaceutical companies rely on active ingredients from rare plants to produce life-saving drugs. The Philippines, being rich in plant diversity, stand to benefit from every discovery, she said. “These plants, with still unknown pharmaceutical values, need to be protected. Communities, as protectors of these species, can benefit from them once their pharmaceutical values are discovered,” Lim said.
Illegal-wildlife trade
Like most PAs, however, the problem of illegal-wildlife trade confronts MMPL. The IPs living within and around MMPL are into illegal-wildlife trade.
According to studies, indigenous communities catch birds to barter for prime commodities. Pet birds, like talking mynah, blue-naped parrot and the Philippine cockatoo, are among those heavily traded in the market outside Palawan. Unscrupulous wildlife traders buy and sell mammals, like squirrels, bearcats, monkeys and mouse deer, caught from the forest within MMPL.
Serious threats
MMPL, however, continues to face other numerous threats, and illegal-wildlife trade appears to be the least to worry about for now.
Environmental advocates in Palawan said serious threats to Mount Mantalingahan present a clear and present danger to the integrity of this KBA. These are mining- and massive-land conversions for rubber, palm oil and cacao plantations.
The protection offered by various environmental laws for MMPL, according to environmental advocate Girthie Mayo-Anda of the Environmental Legal Assistance Center Inc. (Elac), apparently remains wanting.
Besides providing legal assistance to IPs, farmers, fishers and women’s groups in Palawan, Elac advocates for the protection and conservation of Palawan’s environment and natural resources through trainings and workshops to enhance the capacity of communities in the province.
According to Mayo-Anda, while MMPL has an active Protected Area Management Board (PAMB), a PA-management plan and PA-enforcement plan in place, inadequate funding from the government failed to sustain the environmental law-enforcement activities within MMPL.
“There were instances of wildlife smuggling and encroachment of oil-palm plantations. There is also illegal logging. Compared to other parts of the country, the effort in Mount Mantalingahan is better. But from the point of view of every Palaweños who have very high expectations, there are a lot of deficiencies,” she said.
Mining and agroforestry
Besides lack of fund to prevent logging and wildlife trafficking, destructive development projects that rest in the hands of local officials and members of Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) continue to threaten MMPL.
“There are plantations within MMPL. Rubber, cacao and palm oil are encroaching in Mount Mantalingahan, and these plantations are expanding,” said Robert Chan, executive director of Palawan NGO Network Inc. (PNNI).
Along with Elac, PNNI is also advocating for the cancellation of at least four Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) granted to large-scale mining companies. The MPSAs allow mining companies to do exploration activities that affect MMPL.
“The provincial government allowed planting of rubber, cacao and palm oil inside the PA. Like all other PAs, it is a protected area good only on paper,” Chan said.
The provincial government of Palawan and the PCSD grant permit to farmer cooperatives and even encourage farmers to form cooperatives to establish plantations within MMPL as part of a program to promote agroforestry, inadvertently threatening to cause massive destruction of the forest in MMPL.
The entire Palawan is covered by a special law—Republic Act 7611, or the Strategic Environmental Plan for Palawan Act, which created the PCSD.
However, PAs, like MMPL, falls within the mandate and jurisdiction of the PAMB for MMPL headed by the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources.
Under the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act, PAs should be “off limits” to destructive human activities to ensure the protection of its unique ecosystem and conservation of its rich biodiversity.
MMPL, a wildlife sanctuary and a big nature pharmacy, is giving the government more reasons to protect its unique ecosystem and conserve its rich biodiversity.