RP losing valuable resources in unprotected boundaries By Mario J. Mallari 04/28/2011

RP losing valuable resources in unprotected boundaries

By Mario J. Mallari 04/28/2011
The country is losing billions of pesos worth of natural resources, enough to fund an entire military, due to unprotected territorial boundaries, a ranking official of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said yesterday.

At a press briefing, Brig. Gen. Roy Deveraturda, chief of the AFP Modernization Program Management Office, said the military has no clear estimate of the loses due to poaching, illegal fishing, smuggling that happened in the country’s territorial waters but admitted it may run in billions of pesos.

“How do we know if we cannot really monitor but as we see it, it’s a lot…you cannot quantify, you can just make estimate. As I say in our informal talks, we are losing much if we count it, for example, in marine resources and we don’t benefit from it. Maybe if you sell it, it’s enough to buy you a new army, air force and navy,” Deveraturda said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110428nat1.html