The
rapid modernization and industrialization
of a town may result to ecological imbalance;
the price that our environment has to give
in exchange to the so-called technological
innovations and advancement.
Bani
is on the zenith of this development, the
destruction of the environment is intimidating
and might be further exacerbated by urban
migration, population density, pollution and
the proliferation of pollutive industries.
As
the environment is the one being affected,
the local government of Bani must impose policies
and measure to prevent the destruction of
the environment.
Environmental
Sanitation
On
environmental sanitation, the Municipal Health
Officer of Bani undertakes several pertinent
programs and activities. Regarding water sanitation,
particular concern are the households drawing
drinking water from doubtful sources such
as undeveloped wells. To ensure public safety
against water-borne diseases, precautionary
measures (including chlorination) should be
strictly implemented. Likewise, before issuing
sanitary permits and health certificates to
canteens, snack houses and “carinderias”,
cooking utilities should be first inspected;
food handlers must also be oriented on sanitation;
and owners / proprietors must likewise be
required to execute undertaking for strict
compliance with sanitary ordinance, rules
and regulations.
Natural
Risk Area
Most
areas in the municipality do not experience
flooding. Only those in low lands and areas
along river and fish ponds experience slight
to moderate flooding depending on how strong
the rain that falls during the rainy season.
The water from the fish ponds over flows and
reaches some agricultural lands causing the
destruction of rice plants and other agricultural
products. However, floodwater in these areas
easily subsides as the rain stops due to the
porosity of the soil that the area possesses.
Barangays affected are portions of Barangays
Ambabaay, Aporao, Banog Norte, Garrita, Luac,
Masidem, San Miguel, Tugui Grande and Poblacion.
Slight to moderate flooded area covers about
2, 405.92 hectares.
Erosion
prone area covers 997.29 hectares. The affected
Barangays are portions of Tiep, Ranao, San
Jose, Colayo, Dacap Sur, San Simon and Centro
Toma. These barangays located in the upland
areas or in the hilly part of the town endures
/ experiences moderate erosion, which is caused
by deforestation and exposure of the soil
to some elements like rain and excessive heat
that destroys plants, trees and grasses that
cover the soil.
Moreover, located along the sea coast of the
South China Sea, Barangays San Simon, Dacap
Sur, Centro Toma and Colayo are “tsunami”
prone or may be affected by tidal waves. According
to the residents last June 6, 1999, a tidal
wave occurred in Sitio Olanen, Barangay Dacap
Sur damaging about 80% of the seawall and
with an estimated 2Million damages of properties.
Despite of the incident there were no deaths
recorded. Also, Barangays Aporao and San Miguel,
as they were traversed by Tambac Bay, may
be affected by liquefaction and by hazards
from hydrologic adjustments and from soils,
rocks and sediment movements.
Man-made Risk
Area
As
the municipality of Bani is on the advent
of progress, its administrative facilities
and structures and other man-made structures
do not pose as threat to the lives and properties
of the towns people. The roads and bridges
are properly engineered. Even the transmitter
lines of the National Power Corporation (NAPOCOR)
and Pangasinan Electric Company (PANELCO)
are all strategically located and well maintained
so as not to pose danger.
The
fishports located in Barangays Aporao, Masidem,
Dacap Sur and Banog Norte are all properly
devised and maintained. Likewise, the dam
that serves as water reservoir in Barangay
Calabeng, where Bani’s Water District
procure its water supply is very much maintained
and supervised by the water district personnel
and the Office of the MPDC.
d. Slaughterhouse
A
slaughterhouse with an area of 0.28 hectare
has been constructed in Barangay Arwas which
is about 22 kilometers away from the Poblacion.
It has complied with all standard requirements
set forth by the DENR, HLURB and the Sanitation
Code of the Philippines.
The
slaughterhouse is equipped with different
facilities like animal cages, septic tank,
and concrete water tanks. Its perimeter is
fenced and planted with trees, shrubs and
vegetables.
Waste
Disposal
Solid
Waste Disposal
Improper
waste disposal contributes to deterioration
of the environment of a certain locality.
The Municipality of Bani is not spared from
this problem. The municipal government has
transformed its dumpsite into a controlled
dumpsite or sanitary landfill in barangay
Quinaoayanan with an area of one hectare.
Moreover, the municipal government strictly
implements the Solid Waste Management Program.
The
Solid Waste Management focuses on the strategies
that sustain the attainment of Zero Waste
and Pollution Free Environment.
Segregation
of waste materials is done through the use
of manageable receptacles made of sacks installed
in tri-poded stand to contain the degradable
and non-degradable waste matters. These receptacles
are strategically placed in public buildings,
parks, markets and residences, in addition
to the drums and barrels for bigger trash
materials. Likewise dump trucks are roving
daily in the urban area and every other day
in rural areas to ferry the waste materials
to the sanitary landfill.
The
ecological way of disposing biodegradable
wastes like leaves, grasses, twigs, animal
manure and others is through composting for
the production of organic fertilizer, while
non-biodegradable wastes are stored and packed
in the recycling center for re-use and sale
to augment funds for this purpose.
Hospital
/ Clinic Waste
The
municipality has no hospital that operates
within its jurisdiction. However, there are
some private clinics that serve and ensure
the health condition of residents. The wastes
being generated by these private clinics are
collected by the roving municipal garbage
truck and others are recycled by the owner.
Industrial
Waste
The
only industrial waste that can be told in
the municipality are the rice husks coming
from ricemills located in Barangay Luac, Aporao,
Quinaoayanan, Centro Toma, Arwas, Tiep, Tugui
Grande, Ranom Iloco, and Banog Norte. The
pollution caused by the ricemills, however,
is not seriously affecting the residents.
Cemeteries
and Burial Grounds
There
are four (4) cemeteries that operate in the
municipality. Of these cemeteries, two (2)
are public or government owned located in
Poblacion and Dacap Sur (1), and two (2) are
owned by private persons both located in Poblacion.
These two (2) private cemeteries are unregistered,
wherein their operation is not permitted;
however, the owners assert that they are not
selling as these are only intended for their
dead relatives.
Environmental Laws
To
ensure environmental protection and management
in the locality, the Municipal Government
of Bani enforces environmental laws, namely,
P.D. 389 as mandated by P.D. 705, otherwise
known as the Revised Forestry Code of the
Philippines; R.A. 7586, popularly known as
the NIPAS Act or the National Integrated Protected
Areas System Act of 1992; and R.A. 8435, the
Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act
of 1997.
Having
already discussed P.D. 389 in the Forestry
Subsector of this land use plan and R.A. 8435
in the Agriculture Sub-sector, this section
shall delve only on R.A. 7586. NIPAS Act encompasses
the outstanding remarkable areas and biologically
important public lands that are habitats of
rare and endangered species of plants and
animals, biographic zones and related ecosystem
whatever terrestrial (earth or land), wetland
or marine, all of which shall be designated
as “protected areas” whether proclaimed
as protected areas or not. Considered as environmentally
critical areas are natural parks, watershed
reserved, wildlife preserved and sanctuaries,
areas set aside as aesthetic potential tourist
spots; areas which constitute the habitat
for any endangered or treatment species of
indigenous Philippine wildlife (flora and
fauna); areas of unique historic, archaeological
or scientific interest, areas which are traditionally
occupied by cultural communities and tribes;
areas with critical slopes; areas frequently
visited and / or hard hit by natural calamities
(geologic hazards, floods, typhoons and volcanic
activities), areas classified as prime agricultural
lands, recharged areas of aquifers; water
bodies, mangrove areas; coral reefs; riverbanks;
swamp forest and marshlands.
Environmentally Critical
Areas
The
environmentally critical areas which must
be protected are the flood prone and erosion
prone areas covering a total land area of
2,405.92 hectares and 997.29 hectares respectively.
By
virtue of P.D. 185, all prime agricultural
lands and fishery resources have to be conserved.
The land shall be actively used for agriculture
and fishery production and shall not be entitled
to conversion for urban area and development
but rather to be intensified as strategic
crop and fishery zone.
Of
the total 10,350.15 hectares of agricultural
land in the municipality, 9,954 hectares are
devoted to crop production and 396.15 hectares
to aquatic culture. However, there are only
315 hectares which are irrigated and be classified
as the Strategic Crop Zone and the 396.15
hectares aquatic culture is delineated as
the Strategic Fishery Zone which have to be
conserved and protected.
Moreover,
about 2,017 hectares of brackish water is
also being utilized as fishpond, where Milkfish,
Malaga, Tilapia, Mudcrub, Shrimp and others
are being produced and thus contributes in
the economy of the town. This area shall also
be protected and maintained.
The
Mangrove Reforestation Project that covers
63 hectares shall also be conserved and protected.
This area serves not only as breeding places
of varies fish and crustacean species, but
also serves as refuge for fish juveniles and
a haven for migratory bird species.
The town’s 1,131 hectares protection
forest located in Barangay Colayo, Centro
Toma. Dacap Sur and San Simon have to be conserved
in as much as preservation of nature is concerned.
The said forest had been reforested, through
the effort of the municipal government and
DENR.
Environmentally Constrained Areas
There
is no danger of a high intensity earthquake
in the town since Bani is only transversed
by a normal fault line. However, due to the
presence of bald mountains, seashores and
bay, the municipality is subject to erosion,
flood, typhoon and tidal waves. The coastal
barangays are the most severely affected during
typhoons and prone to tidal waves due to their
proximity to the sea. The flooded barangays
are Poblacion, Banog Norte, Garrita, Ambabaay,
Aporao, Luac, Masidem, San Miguel and Tugui
Grande due to the presence of brackish water
that serves as fishponds and the absence of
effective drainage canals to contain the flood.
Barangays Tiep,Ranao, San Jose, Colayo, Dacap
Sur, San Simon and Centro Toma are the areas
prone to erosion because of deforestation
of mountains and exposure of the soil to some
elements like rain and excessive heat that
destroys plants, trees and grasses that covers
the soil.
Coastal Zone
The
coastal zone of the municipality is composed
of the western portions of Barangay San Simon,
Dacap Sur, Centro Toma and Colayo.
A
seawall that serves as breakwaters was constructed
in Dacap Sur, but in year 1999 “Tsunami”
or tidal wave occurred causing the destruction
of the seawall. At present, the seawall is
not yet reconstructed, however, the municipal
government and through the help of the residents
had planted trees along the areas that serve
as natural breakwaters.
The
municipal government had also formulated a
Comprehensive Coastal Development Plan (CCDP)
to come up with a more workable plans and
stricter implementation of their fishery and
environmental laws. This CCDP shall prevent
the illegal fishing activities such as dynamite,
cyanide fishing and “muro-ami”
which caused the destruction of corral reeves
and fish kills.
