MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has completed the delineation of a total of 5,590.18 kilometers of forest boundaries in the five provinces comprising the Zamboanga Peninsula (Region 9).

DENR-Region 9 Executive Director Arleigh Adorable said the Regional Assessment and Delineation Teams of the Land Evaluation Party (LEP) successfully completed the task after a decade.

Adorable said a total of 5,590.18 kilometers of forestland boundary in five provinces comprising the region was successfully assessed and delineated, broken down as follows: Zamboanga del Norte – 1,662.37 kilometers; Zamboanga del Sur – 1,493.28 kilometers; Zamboanga City 679.78 kilometers; Zamboanga Sibugay 1,471.32 kilometers; and Isabela City, Basilan – 83.43 kilometers.

He also said the total output include new lines covering areas that are either proposed for conversion to alienable and disposable lands, proposed for reversion to timberlands and “hotspot areas.” “Hotspot areas” refer to those areas located in the hinterlands and coastal areas which are considered impenetrable due to adverse peace and order situation.

It was in year 2000 when the country’s forestland boundary delineation was started pursuant to Sec. 4, Article XII of the 1987 Philippine Constitution which mandates the Congress “to determine by law the specific limits of the public domain.”

In 2008, the DENR through an administrative order included in its delineation program the boundaries of coastal and mangrove areas of the country to enable the RADTs to propose new blocks or parcels within forest zone areas to non-conforming land uses/agricultural areas or vice versa based on secondary and primary data as well as the actual field survey.

Meanwhle, a total of 4,319 cubic meters of undocumented forest products, with an estimated market value of R19.65 million, was confiscated in Region 11 (Davao Region) last year.