By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Following the protest conducted by local environmental group Green Alert Negros (GAN) in response to the removal of Andres Untal as Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer (PENRO), the group plans on elevating the issue to President Rodrigo Duterte.
GAN Legal Counsel, Atty. Ryan Montoro, held a press conference yesterday where he expressed his confidence the president and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Gina Lopez would take up the issue.
GAN condemned the dismissal of Untal, calling it “a big loss to the DENR in Negros Occidental, particularly in pursuing illegal structures inside the Northern Negros Natural Park (NNNP).”
Untal was replaced by Edgar Rostata, a former community environment and natural resources officer for Cadiz City.
Meanwhile, Montoro noted, GAN is also looking to start a dialogue with the president regarding the Energy Development Corporation (EDC) expansion plan at the Mt. Kanlaon Natural Park (MKNP).
“The matter needs an urgent course of action because it poses imminent danger to MKNP,” he said in his letter to the president. “EDC’s encroachment on MKNP is illegal.”
EDC is run by the family of the DENR secretary./WDJ