Barangay to be erased from the map forever

Barangay Danao, a barangay along Lake Danao in Ormoc City, is facing the possibility of being erased from the map forever because the city plans to tap the lake as a  source of drinking water.

Mayor Richard Gomez told reporters the decision to develop Lake Danao as a water source was reached because the city’s water has become turbid following the series of landslides triggered by the magnitude 6.5 earthquake that shook Leyte last July 6.

Gomez said the entire Barangay Danao, which is near the lake, will be relocated since no more human habitation will be allowed within 3 to 5 kilometers of the lake once it becomes the city’s water source.

The barangay also straddles a fault line, the mayor said.

Those who refuse to leave will be forcibly evacuated.

Gomez said the water in the lake is more than enough to supply Ormoc. Lake Danao is also the source of water for Tacloban City and seven other towns in Leyte.

Regional Director Leonardo Sibbaluca of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said Lake Danao Natural Park in Ormoc is one of seven protected areas in Eastern Visayas under the National Integrated Protected Area System (NIPAS) Act of 1992.

Sibbaluca said the water in the guitar-shaped, 2,193-hectare lake is also one of the city’s tourist attractions.

The decision of the mayor to ban human settlements near the lake will boost the park’s ecosystem, he said.

Lake Danao has a diverse species of plants and animals.

Sibbaluca also stressed that squatting or occupying land in a protected area, except by qualified tenured migrants or indigenous communities, is prohibited under the NIPAS Act. 

(Texts reposted from Manila Bulletin) Photo credit: Paolo Dolina.