The Geographical Journal, Vol. 167, No. 4, December 2001, pp.

305323

Policy and practice in karst landscape

protection: Bohol, the Philippines
PETER B URICH*, MICHAEL J DAY** AND FIONA LYNAGH*
*Department of Human Geography, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand and **Department of
Geography, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, P O Box 413, Milwaukee 53201, USA
E-mails: pbu@waikato.ac.nz, mickday@uwm.edu and f_lynagh@hotmail.com
This paper was accepted for publication in June 2001

The karst landscape in the interior of the Philippines Bohol Province represents one of
the worlds premier kegelkarst (cone karst) environments. Government efforts to protect
some of this karst, exemplified by the establishment of the Rajah Sikatuna National Park
and the Chocolate Hills Natural Monument, have proven to be significant catalysts of
social conflict. In Bohol there is a long history of traditional land tenure, which has
recently been supplanted by a Westernized model. Protected area establishment is a
response to deforestation, agricultural exploitation and uncontrolled quarrying. How-
ever, the imposition of protective legislation to prevent further degradation has
disenfranchized and marginalized many local farmers and residents. The conflict
between the obligation of the State to ensure environmental protection and the
perceived property rights of landowners and farmers has provoked an escalation in civil
unrest and armed conflict.

KEY WORDS: Philippines, Bohol, karst, protected areas, Rajah Sikatuna National Park,
Chocolate Hills Natural Monument, civil unrest

Introduction issues, actors, protagonists and victims. To under-

stand these local situations a second tier of analysis

R
ecent papers (e.g. Day and Urich 2000;
Kueny and Day 1998 2000) have explored
regional trends in the designation of karst
landscapes as protected areas. These studies repre-
sent significant preliminary steps in the assessment
of the overall status of the global karst heritage,
and they accord with growing concerns about
karst landscape degradation (Williams 1993;
Barany-Kevei and Gunn 1999) and the need to
conserve karstlands for ecological, hydrological and
other reasons (Watson et al. 1997; Vermeulen and
Whitten 1999). Moreover, they alerted the scien-
tific community both to the limited areas of karst
designated as protected areas and the ad hoc
nature of many such designations.
In this paper, we demonstrate that while inter-
national and national protected area policies are
being increasingly adopted to protect the global
karst heritage (corollary to the general principles of
environmental conservation), the realities of pro-
tected area establishment are ultimately local
affairs, played out in locales with distinctive sets of
0016-7398/01/0004-0305/$00.20/0
is proposed.
Few studies have attempted to analyze the intri-
cacies of karst conservation at a local level, particu-
larly in tropical and developing areas, and Berryhill
notes that:
more research is needed in fields like applied rural
sociology in developing practical methods of confronting
developmental forces.
Berryhil 1989, 163
In the only really comparable study, Day (1996)
illustrated the importance of karst conservation at a
national scale, employing a case study of Belize,
Central America. That paper, which represents a
catalyst for this analysis, suggested that the high
degree of karst area protection in Belize was facili-
tated by a low population density in the karst
landscapes, and that opportune designation of pro-
tected karst areas reflected their ecological,
archaeological and recreational value, rather than
inherent concern for karst terrain, per se.
 2001 The Royal Geographical Society
306 Policy and practice in karst landscape protection: the Philippines
Most previous studies of legislation designed to
mitigate degradation of karst environments have
focused on the United States, and are specific
to particular elements of the karst environment
(Bade and Moss 1997; Davis 1997; Dougherty
1989; Fischer 1997; Fischer and Lechner 1989;
LaMoreaux et al. 1997; Panno et al. 1997; Smith
and Vance 1997). None address the implications of
long-term human occupance of rural karst land-
scapes and the conflicts that arise between resi-
dents and governments over the conservation of
their karst resources.
In this study we examine rural karst conservation
issues, particularly the designation of protected areas,
in the Chocolate Hills region of the Central Philippine
island of Bohol. This focuses on issues pertaining to
the establishment, management and conservation of
two areas in particular: the Rajah Sikatuna National
Park and the Chocolate Hills Natural Monument.
The Rajah Sikatuna National Park, which covers
slightly more than 10 000 hectares, was established
in 1990 (Urich and Bliss 1992). Adjacent to and
occasionally overlapping the National Park is the
more recently proclaimed (1997) Chocolate Hills
Natural Monument, which covers approximately
14 350 hectares and incorporates 1776 individual
mogotes, or conical hills. The establishment of these
protected areas has engendered conflicts between
government and local populations, which illustrate
broader problems of attempting to conserve karst
environments. Many of the difficulties we address are
not unique to the protection of karst, but in this
particular situation the karst environment is central,
not only with regard to government develop-
ment policy for this impoverished area of Bohol, but
also to those who continue to resist government-
imposed land tenure systems and environmental
legislation.
We set the scene by describing the karst land-
scapes of Bohol and examining why the govern-
ment is interested in protecting them from further
destructive exploitation. A review of Philippine
government legislative frameworks for designating
and managing protected areas follows, as does an
assessment of the relevance of centrally-planned
policies to a locally complex social and political
environment. The research has been conducted
over a period of ten years, largely through fieldwork
and personal interaction with the local popula-
tion and government agencies involved in manag-
ing the protected areas. The primary research
methods employed are interviews with key govern-
ment employees, members of non-government
organizations working with the population resident
either in the protected areas or in their buffer
zones, and with residents of the aforementioned
areas.
Protected area designation and management
There is a growing body of theoretical literature
largely normative relating to how local populations
should be integrated into a protected area designa-
tion and management (Larson 2000; Lynagh and
Urich in press). This tendency is in reaction to the
fact that there has largely been a lack of recognition
of local people by those that claim to be the
managers of to-be-protected or protected areas,
and hence a failure to use traditional and local
knowledge in administration. In many countries
National Park rights are well defined, legally
enforceable, and clearly vested with management
(Day and Urich 2000). The rights to manage Parks
however can be vested with either National Park
authorities or the local people (Shah 1995). For
example, joint forest management (JFM) is an agree-
ment between government and local people about
mutually sharing arrangement of forest manage-
ment. The forests property rights are vested with
one of the parties (Murty 1996). Rathore (1996)
advocated park management being carried out on
a joint basis with adjoining communities under
existing JFM interpretation.
From research in Nepals Royal Chitwan National
Park conducted by Nepal and Weber (1994, 341),
local people were in favour of managing their
reserves; many local people were willing to assume
a shared management responsibility. Opinions dif-
fered on the issue of the managing body those
villagers who favoured a government agency saw
the biological, technical and economic aspects of
management as requiring knowledge that local
people did not possess, while the proponents
of local management stressed the need for govern-
ment support. Willingness to share management
in this case was mainly determined by age, level of
education, volume of crop-loss, household size,
and landholding size. A strong emphasis was
placed on local peoples better management
capability.
Wells and Brandon (1992) see one of the biggest
problems with protected area management as the
unlikeliness that limited benefits to local people will
change their behaviour or reduce pressure on the
flora and fauna in the protected area, and thereby
enhance the conservation of biological diversity.
The few working examples of healthy protected
area management in the Philippines, South East
Asia and much of the South means that little logical
rationale is found for this expectation.
Top-down approach
Protected area creation and the approaches taken
in their management are seen by a number of
academics to be restricting, disregarding, and
 Policy and practice in karst landscape protection: the Philippines
essentialising of local people (Colchester 1996;
Ghimire 1994; Kothari 1996; McNeely et al. 1994;
Nepal and Weber 1994; Neumann 1997; Sayer
1991). The aim of the protected areas and their
buffer zones is seen to be a bribe to lessen local
resistance to the establishment and expansion of
parks and reserves, rather than an alternative
sustainable livelihood option (Ghimire 1994).
Protected area creation has meant settlement
and common property areas have been further
invaded by park authorities and livelihood oppor-
tunities for local communities have been lost
(Ghimire 1994). Proposals involving the integration
of conservation and rural development in protected
areas e.g. integrated conservation and develop-
ment projects can actually involve different forms of
state intervention and land use restrictions. Instead
of improving security of tenure for people who
might inhabit protected areas, projects . . . extend
state authority over settlement and land use well
beyond protected area boundaries, thereby height-
ening the insecurity of local land tenure (Neumann
1997, 575). Preservationist views have led to
forced relocation, impoverishment, human rights
abuse and a breakdown of traditional systems
of resource management (Colchester 1996).
Colchester notes that new policies have been
adopted by conservation organizations (Larson
2000) for working with indigenous people, but at
the same time top-down conservation and global
environmental management by large development
agencies threatens to undo this progress.
Conflict management, biosphere reserves, buffer
zones, ecodevelopment and benefit sharing have
mostly been . . . initiated and directed by outsiders,
have been of short duration and have focused on
ambitious but untried technologies to secure
increased economic benefits for local people
(Colchester 1996, 34). Colchester (1996) cites the
National Integrated Protected Area System (NIPAS)
in the Philippines, which professes to have the
. . . preservation of ancestral domain and customary rights
within protected areas as a management target. Yet
NIPAS . . . put protected areas under close manage-
ment, control and study so that experts can decide
where, when and how much natural resources local
communities can extract.
Colchester 1996, 34
Ghimire (1994, 225) states that the idea of rural
development in buffer zone areas [of protected
areas] usually comes totally from above, with little
or no participation of local communities. Although
integrated conservation and development projects
and protected areas are presented as being partici-
patory and locally empowering, in actual fact
307
the rural communities to whom the projects are
often aimed have little to do with buffer zone
proposal, design, or enforcement (Neumann 1997).
Neumann sees a long history of Western notions of
the primitive as structuring conservationists ideas
for local participation in buffer zones. The essential-
izing of local people is seen to obscure politics of
land within protected areas, through positive and
negative stereotypes and assumptions. Neumann
(1997) also recognizes that protected areas pro-
posals generally suffer from a failure to recognize,
let alone analyse, unequal power relations and how
they relate to land and resource access and, ulti-
mately, the force of conservation politics. Protected
areas projects, rather than presenting a new
approach, are more similar to colonial conserva-
tion practices in their socio-economic and political
consequences and many represent a geographical
expansion of state authority . . . into rural com-
munities (Neumann 1997, 564 emphasis in
original).
An emerging Western paradigm incorporates
local and internal knowledge systems into a buffer
zone management strategy. One example is the
development of conservation targets and manage-
ment methods through dialogue between indi-
vidual farmers and those interested in resource
preservation, acknowledging that these two per-
spectives are seldom mutually exclusive. A second
method typically involves cash compensation for
either the loss of habitat or economic opportunities
that are forgone as a downstream effect of preser-
vation. This method has been used widely by
mining interests in remote and (possibly)
biologically-rich regions (Banks 1996). The longer-
term viability of each of these methods has not
been thoroughly researched. However, in the case
of compensation payments for mine developments,
anecdotal evidence from Melanesia and the South
Pacific leaves us with some doubt.
In conclusion, considerable controversy sur-
rounds protected area theory which illustrates a
positive and worthwhile concept, and practice,
where little contextual evidence proves that pro-
tected areas are effective. The following case study
is used to address the contentious issues of theory
and practice. The outcome is a further refinement
of the definition of protected area management
that more clearly articulates local conditionality.
The karst landscapes of Bohol
Bohol is a roughly circular island, centrally located
in the Visayan island group of the Philippine archi-
pelago. Covering nearly 5000 square kilometres,
the island is partitioned physiographically into two
approximately equal sized components divided
308 Policy and practice in karst landscape protection: the Philippines
Figure 1 Geologic and physiographic regions of Bohol
between the North and the South (Figure 1). The
northern part consists mainly of gently rolling
topography, flanked to the east by a range of higher
hills, and in the west by more deeply-dissected
terrain. The southern area is subdivided into two
units of about equal area in the east and west. A
narrow coastal plain and a series of eastwest
trending mountain ranges characterize the eastern
half. By contrast, the western part consists of wider
coastal plains that flank an extensive plateau-
like interior. Further discussion is focused on this
south-west quadrant, which is the site of this
research.
Pliocene-aged limestone is the dominant bed-
rock throughout most of coastal and interior south-
western Bohol. Raised shore platforms and marine
terraces characterize the coastal environments
(Hillmer and Voss 1987; Sison 1954). In the interior
is a plateau-like limestone area ranging from 100 to
approximately 600 metres above sea level. Two
sets of features dominate the plateau. The first
consists of three broad, flat, synclinal valleys, some-
times described as poljes, inclined at approximately
four degrees and draining towards the south-west
(Voss 1970). These valleys are limestone floored,
covered by alluvium, and punctuated by isolated
limestone residuals varying from 10 to 80 metres in
relief (Plates 1 and 2). Second, the valleys are
separated by distinctive upland limestone blocks
representing a series of prominent anticlines raised
up to several hundred metres above the surround-
ing valleys. Each anticline is a relatively homo-
geneous unit of limestone and is heavily dissected
(Figure 2).
Superficially, the limestone appears homo-
geneous, but there are significant variations in
lithological composition, hardness and per-
meability. At depths of up to over 100 metres,
well-drillers have encountered more resistant lenses
of less permeable limestone and, in isolated cases,
impermeable conglomerates and sandstone lenses
(Figure 3). These lenses strongly influence the
 Policy and practice in karst landscape protection: the Philippines 309

Figure 2 Hydrologic relationship between main valleys and distinct uplifted blocks of southern Bohol (adapted from
Quiazon 1979)

groundwater hydrology and also the terminology
used to define local agro-ecozones.
Complex contacts between the deeply-dissected
limestone anticlines and the synclinal lowlands, plus
impurities within each lithological unit result in a
complex hydrological situation in south-west Bohol
but, in general, three distinctive karst geomor-
phological units are involved. The dissected, anticli-
nal uplands are critical hydrologic recharge areas.
The limestone porosity is generally high, and their
elevation above the surrounding plains results in
the uplands receiving substantially more annual
precipitation than the lowlands (3000 mm as
against 1750 mm) (Sison 1954; Urich 1993).
Hydrologic inputs take two forms: rainfall and con-
densation within the native forest. The former
remains significant, although the latter has dimin-
ished considerably as deforestation has intensified
(Urich and Reeder 1999).
Permeability of the anticlinal limestones is not
restricted by shallow, less permeable limestones or
other rocks, and the water-table in the upland areas
310 Policy and practice in karst landscape protection: the Philippines

Figure 3 Geological composition and depths to the groundwater table at four sites in Batuan and Bilar, Bohol (based on
well-log data from the Bohol Department of Public Works and Highways, various dates)

is typically at a depth of over 30 metres
significantly deeper than below the intervening
valleys. Underground flow is via a variety of path-
ways, and involves both diffuse and conduit flow.
At the margins between the uplands and valleys
some of the underground flow is discharged to
the surface via mostly free-draining or gravity
springs.
The hydrologic regime in the valleys or poljes is
also maintained by direct precipitation inputs, but is
most dependent upon springwater discharge to the
valley surface, which represents the local base level,
at the junctions between the valleys and the inter-
vening uplands. A secondary, lesser spring input
occurs around the bases of the numerous residual
hills within the valleys. In the local vernacular, the
 Policy and practice in karst landscape protection: the Philippines
general term for a spring is tubud, but two distinct
types are distinguished: sapa ang tubig (gravity
springs) and bugwak (upwelling or artesian springs).
The lowlands have an extremely shallow water-
table that during wet periods rises to the land
surface, but which during periods of extreme
drought may decline by several metres. Within the
valley system there are significant discrete changes
in the hydrologic regime that correlate with
decreased permeability caused by either underlying
lenses of impure limestone or some other less
permeable rock. Analysis of over 170 well logs in
south-western Bohol shows that this change in
lithology can occur at depths ranging from two to
over 40 metres (Figure 3).
The coastal platforms and raised terraces play but
a minor role in the karst hydrology. They are
extremely permeable, with essentially no surface
drainage and with no significant terrestrial springs.
This relative aridity increases the importance of the
inland valleys to the regional agricultural economy.
Hydrologically, these valleys represent the primary
accessible groundwater reservoir, fluctuations in
the level of which have considerable impacts on
agricultural practice. Water-table levels depend pri-
marily on the peripheral spring discharge from
the surrounding uplands, although they are influ-
enced also by precipitation within the valleys
themselves.
Karst features and cultural landscapes
Dominating the perception of conservators in
central Bohol are the limestone residuals or
mogotes, which are among the classic type
examples of this landform and which have attracted
international scientific studies of their geomor-
phology, hydrology, agricultural development,
archaeology, species diversity and tourism potential
(Denes 1974; Faustino 1932; Hillmer and Voss
1987; Kroener 1973; Ng and Sket 1996; Quiazon
1979; Reeder 1990; Solheim 1964 1964a; Teves
1947; Uhlig 1980 1987 1993; Urich 1989 1993;
Voss 1970).
Also of particular significance, both for their
scientific interest and tourism potential, are the
extensive cave systems. Until quite recently, it was
assumed that cave development in the young lime-
stones of the interior was limited (Voss 1970), but
recent speleological expeditions have documented
numerous and extensive systems, with over 60
caves now surveyed (Reeder et al. 1989; Urich and
Bliss 1992; Urich et al. 1997; Vedenick 1997).
Other regional karst landforms include poljes,
towers, dry valleys, including steep-sided canyons
and hanging valleys, pocket valleys and estavelles
(Kroener 1973; Urich 1990; Voss 1970). Several
311
cenotes have been surveyed in or adjacent to the
buffer zone (500 m from the boundary) of Rajah
Sikatuna National Park (Reeder 1990; Urich 1993),
each containing water to depths exceeding 30
metres and with volumes in excess of a half million
litres. Complementing the cenotes are several major
springs with discharges in excess of 1000 ls-1. The
total groundwater discharge for the limestone
watersheds of southern Bohol is estimated at
approximately 131 000 000 cumecs per year
(Quiazon 1979).
Bohols karst landscape has been extensively
modified by human activity (Urich 1990 1991a
1991b). In particular, extensive terraces have been
constructed, along with elaborate and extensive
irrigation systems, some with cumulative canal
lengths of greater than ten kilometres. Most of the
springs are integrated into the irrigation systems
and some of the irrigation canals are supplied
directly by caves draining the uplands and isolated
mogotes. Streamsinks are managed (plugged and
unplugged) either to retain or to drain surface
water. The local population has developed an
excellent understanding of the local hydrology and
the relationships between hydrologic management
and land productivity, a theme which is critical to
understanding local reaction to conservation
legislation and the establishment of protected
areas.
Biodiversity conservation in the Philippines
During the twentieth century, but particularly over
the last 50 years, forest cover has decreased in the
Philippines as the country has accelerated its timber
production, and as increasing human populations
have converted forests to agricultural lands
(Kummer 1992; Poffenberger and McGean 1993;
Table 1). It is estimated that the Philippines lose
about 150 000 hectares of forest a year (Arquiza
1993), with a national deforestation rate of one
per cent per annum (MacKinnon 1997), which
Kummer (1992, 91) regards as a consequence
of . . . desperately poor people trying to find a
place where they can at least feed their families.
Deforestation, particularly in the uplands, has
severe repercussions for both upland and lowland
communities. Upland livelihoods become under-
mined by accelerating soil erosion on agricultural
lands and reduced forest product flows, while
downstream flooding and sedimentation result in
lowland farmers losing fertile croplands, and expe-
riencing erratic water supplies and frequent power
cuts (Poffenberger and McGean 1993; Urich and
Reeder 1996). In addition, forests still play an
important part in the Philippine national economy;
as recently as 1987 the Philippines earned US$306
312 Policy and practice in karst landscape protection: the Philippines
million from exporting wood-based products and,
although employing only around 16 000 people,
forest-based industries contribute US$500 million
annually to the nations foreign exchange (Leonen
1993). More recently, however, the state of the
Philippines forests has been described as arguably
the worst in tropical Asia (Collins et al. 1991).
The Philippines has high levels of biodiversity and
endemism compared to other South East Asian
nations and, although the total number of animal
species is relatively low, most are unique to the
major island groups (MacKinnon 1997; PSDN
1999). The country contains eight endemic bird
areas and six sites of global biological significance;
31 species of mammals, 43 birds and 604 plant
species are endangered (MacKinnon 1997). The
Philippines recently was ranked eighth on the
Global Biodiversity Hotspots List, based on the two
criteria of number of endemic species contained
in an ecosystem, and the degree of threat
the ecosystem faces (Conservation International
1999).
Protected areas in the Philippines
To conserve these natural resources, protected
areas have been established in the Philippines since
1910, with the first law on National Parks enacted
in 1932 and the first National Park designated in
1940 (PSDN 1999). The Philippines is also signa-
tory to a number of international and regional
conventions and programmes concerned with the
conservation of natural areas. These include the
World Heritage Convention (19 September 1985),
and the ASEAN Convention (1967) (Collins et al.
1991). Nevertheless, the Philippines is both one of
the most biologically important countries in South
East Asia, yet also one of the most degraded and
under-protected (MacKinnon 1997).
Prior to the establishment of the Chocolate Hills
Natural Monument, there was a total of 38 pro-
tected areas in the Philippines, covering 5970
square kilometres (597 000 hectares), or 2.6 per
cent of the total land area (MacKinnon 1997). Of
this total, it is estimated that 29 per cent comprise
karst landscapes (Day and Urich 2000). Like the
Philippine forests, the protected areas have been
gradually deteriorating since the 1950s. National
Parks suffer from varying degrees of human
encroachment, timber and animal poaching,
kaingin, or slash and burn agriculture, and generally
conflicting land uses (PSDN 1999). Low public
expenditures and lack of adequately trained per-
sonnel bedevil the management of parks and
reserves, and the administration of the protected
areas system is fragmented. A number of agencies
(not only the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources, DENR) have control over some
protected areas, and they have differing, often
conflicting ideas about park management (Espiritu,
pers comm 1999; PSDN 1999; Ranjitsinh 1982).
Overall, standards of protection are poor to
medium (Braatz et al. 1992; MacKinnon 1997).
Although there are serious difficulties in safe-
guarding the protected areas of the Philippines,
large tracts of these highly biodiverse habitats
remain. With determination and resources, these
sites can still be rescued from ecological decline
and maintained as protected areas. In recent years,
local and international non-governmental organiz-
ations (NGOs) have taken interest in the protected
areas, and they have earmarked significant portions
of their financial resources for some of the
National Parks (PSDN 1999). The over-riding issue,
according to McNeely et al. is:
The quest for a balance between the generalized desire
to live harmoniously with nature and the need to exploit
resources to sustain life. The problems facing protected
areas are thus intimately related to socio-economic
factors like poverty, land tenure, and equity.
McNeely et al. 1994, 198
McNeely et al. (1994) identified a number of major
issues that need to be addressed in the Philippines
if protected areas are to be an integral part of
national development planning: improving relations
between protected areas and local communities,
improving management of the protected areas,
making protected areas part of modern society
through education, training and research, and
increasing international cooperation. Failure to
address these priorities leads to problems, as is the
case in Bohol.
The NIPAS Act
Bohols Rajah Sikatuna National Park and
Chocolate Hills Natural Monument are com-
ponents of the National Integrated Protected Area
System (NIPAS), which is the umbrella legislation
pertaining to environmental protection in the
Philippines. The Philippines Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) began
implementing the NIPAS Act in 1993, although it
originated in 1988, when the Haribon Foundation
of the Philippines proposed an Integrated
Protected Areas System to then President Aquino.
The Act, formally enacted in 1992 as the Republic
Act (RA) 7586, refers to the classification and
administration of all designated protected areas
throughout the Philippines. It is designed to main-
tain essential ecological processes and life-support
systems, to preserve genetic diversity, to ensure
 Policy and practice in karst landscape protection: the Philippines
sustainable use of resources, and to maintain the
protected areas natural conditions to the greatest
extent possible (PSDN 1999). The system was
designed to halt the depletion of forest and marine
resources throughout the country, and aims to
secure for present and future generations of Filipino
people the continued existence of native flora,
fauna and landscapes. It also strives to provide the
basic human needs that are dependent on a healthy
environment (Arquiza 1993).
The initial phase of the NIPAS project was the
identification of ten priority sites to be protected,
based on information from the DENR, conservation
groups and the academe. This phase began in
1990, and was funded by the World Bank, as was
the next seven-year implementation phase (Arquiza
1993). This funding was crucial to the programme,
as it has been a lack of funds, among other local
issues, that has led to the degradation of the
Philippines protected areas.
The NIPAS programme is one of the major
implementing strategies for Republic Act 7586, with
the first five years of implementation financed by
the European Union with increasing contribution
from the Philippine Government. The objective of
the programme is to achieve the following goals for
each protected area:
+ establishment of a Geographic Information
System and integrated database;
+ execution of socio-economic surveys and
consultations;
+ preparation of a General Management Plan;
+ delineation and demarcation of protected area
and buffer zone boundaries and strengthening
the capability of protected areas management
staff;
+ promotion of locally identified alternative
economic activities;
+ enhancement of the effectiveness and sustain-
ability of the PA management and consultation
mechanisms foreseen in the NIPAS Act, through
the provision of appropriated training and advice
of all levels;
+ implementation of a public awareness pro-
gramme; and
+ provision of the necessary facilities and technical
input (DENR 1999).
DENR personnel are responsible for these activities.
The DENR is mandated to be the primary govern-
ment agency responsible for the conservation,
management, development and proper use of the
countrys environmental and natural resources
(DENR 1999).
A National Park is defined by the NIPAS Act
(Section 4e) as:
313
a forest reservation essentially of natural wilderness
character which has been withdrawn from settlement,
occupancy or any form of exploitation except in conform-
ity with approved management plan and set aside as such
exclusively to conserve the area or preserve the scenery,
the natural and historic objects, wild animals and plants
therein and to provide enjoyment of these features in
such areas.
A Natural Monument is described (Section 4f) as:
a relatively small area focused on protection of small
features to protect or preserve nationally significant
natural features on account of their special interest or
unique characteristics.
Groombridge (1992) notes that the primary objec-
tives of National Parks are to maintain sample
ecosystems in their natural state, preserve ecologi-
cal diversity through environmental regulation,
to conserve genetic resources and maintain
watershed/flood control, to provide recreation and
tourism service, to protect scenic beauty, and to
contribute to rural development. Generally, natural
resource exploitation is prohibited in National
Parks, meaning that agricultural and pastoral activi-
ties, hunting, fishing, lumbering, mining, public
works construction, and residential, commercial or
industrial occupation are all disallowed (IUCN
1985). By contrast, and significantly, the primary
objectives of other protected area designations
under the NIPAS Act are unclear, particularly in the
context of the role of local populations. Such
ambiguity in the stated objectives is pertinent to the
areas considered here.
Protected karst areas in Bohol
Rajah Sikatuna National Park (RSNP)
The majority of the current RSNP was originally
designated as timberland in 1928, and was incor-
porated into the Loboc Watershed Reforestation
Project in 1953. An eight-hectare Boy Scout Camp
was developed in the 1950s, and this was desig-
nated a National Park on 7 October 1987. In 1990
the Philippine Government also designated the
adjacent 9023-hectare limestone karst area (pre-
viously designated as public forest land) as part of
the National Park under Proclamation 129 (Arco
1998; PSDN 1999; Urich and Bliss 1992). The Park
was expanded again in 1999 to cover 10 485
hectares, and the implications of this most recent
expansion have been discussed elsewhere (Lynagh
and Urich in press; Figure 4). The previous public
forest lands and Boy Scout Park were accorded
314 Policy and practice in karst landscape protection: the Philippines

Figure 4 The Rajah Sikatuna National Park and Chocolate Hills Natural Monument

National Park status with the goal of boosting
investment in reforestation of the area, while pro-
tecting the islands hydrological resources (Urich
and Bliss 1992).
RSNP covers 29 barangays (villages) in the seven
Bohol municipalities of Batuan, Carmen, Sierra
Bulloes, Garcia Hernandez, Valencia, Dimiao, and
Bilar. The special attributes of the park include the
fact that it is the last remaining forested portion of
Bohol, and is one of only five old-growth forests
remaining in the central Philippines. It also contains
diverse and little-studied plant and animal
 Policy and practice in karst landscape protection: the Philippines
resources, including the very rare flying lemur and
the Philippine tarsier, and it is one of ten sites
earmarked for World Bank-Global Environmental
Facility Integrated Protected Area System Project
status (BWF 1999; PSDN 1999; Urich and Bliss
1992).
The management problems facing other National
Parks in the Philippines affect RSNP similarly.
According to the park superintendent, the number
of rangers in the park has declined from 30
originally to five in 1999 because DENRs funding is
insufficient to cover additional wages. Other con-
tacts maintain that there are, in fact, only two
rangers, although four ranger stations are available
for use. In addition, local politics militate against
strict implementation of forest laws, as it is not
always in an individuals best interest to obey the
law if that conflicts with the wishes of local politi-
cians or other influential people (Espiritu, Park
Superintendent Rajah Sikatuna pers. comm. 1999).
The NIPAS Act requires that a Protected Area
Management Board (PAMB) be created for each
protected area. PAMBs are responsible for budget
allocation, approval of funding proposals, planning,
and administration of protective measures in the
protected area. A PAMBs required membership
composition is described in the NIPAS Act, and
includes various governmental representatives, a
representative from each barangay (village) in the
protected area, plus at least three NGO representa-
tives. The RSNP PAMB was not organized until
1994, and was formalized a year later by the DENR
secretary (Arco 1998). One NGO representative
on the RSNP PAMB is from the Soil and Water
Conservation Foundation (SWCF), whose research
demonstrates that, prior to SWCF inclusion, the
PAMB board was ineffectual, lacked understanding
of its functions, and had little knowledge of struc-
turing programmes in specific areas. The SWCF
reports that the board was also:
lacking skills in policy formulation, strategic planning,
collective decision-making and general park management
. . . [and showed] very little attempt to identify and resolve
conflicts among members and other stakeholders
particularly on natural resource utilization.
Arco 1998, 6
The location of RSNP in a heavily-populated area is
reflected in the extensive use of the park by people
from the surrounding district. RSNP encompasses
parts of seven municipalities and 29 barangays,
within which there are a total of 4388 households,
or 25 331 people (Soil and Water Conservation
Foundation 1999). The intensity of use of RSNP
land in these barangays varies, as some parts of
315
the National Park contain resident populations,
defined as . . . those individuals, families and
communities traditional or modern that
occupy, reside in, or otherwise use, on a regular or
repeated basis, a specific territory within or adja-
cent to an established or proposed protected area.
(West and Brechin 1991, 6), whereas other parts of
the park are uninhabited, but are readily accessible
from neighbouring barangays.
The National Park provides a variety of oppor-
tunities for local people. Many use the land for
growing crops, hunting, collecting housing
materials and foods, and for a variety of other
small-scale activities, including the harvesting from
caves of edible swiftlets nests for culinary use, and
the collection of cave formations (SWCF pers.
comm. 1999). There is dispute about the primary
motivation behind this hunting, food and fuel
gathering. Ghimire (1994) reports that most officials
see profit as the main motive, rather than basic
survival needs. Others maintain that local people
are forced to exploit protected resources because
of diminishing survival options and/or resentment
arising from unfair treatment (Raval 1994). Alterna-
tively, they manage resources simply to secure their
daily subsistence, giving little thought to long-term
resource productivity (Dalton 1989).
It must be recognized that the legal assignation
of protected area status does not immediately
change the local use of the area, nor does it erect a
barrier between the protected area and the sur-
rounding environment (Garratt 1982; Zimmerer
2000). In particular, the establishment of protected
areas in1 developing countries has often resulted in
conflict between local communities and those
responsible for protected area management (Nepal
1997; Zimmerer and Young 1998).
The Philippine Government has been accused by
a Boholano NGO of disregarding the masses of
their right to survival, when it declared RSNP
a protected area (Bohol Chronicle 1999, 14).
Kinabuhi, a network of various cause-oriented
groups in the region, maintains that although
Presidential Proclamation 129 appears to be eco-
logically upright, it ignores the plight of small land-
owners and poor farmers, who have not been
taken into consideration in reaching the decision.
Arrests of farmers and confiscations of land have
occurred under the guise of environmental protec-
tion, while Kinabuhi claims that increased tourism
and foreign investment are the real objectives of
the declaration and are behind the harsh penalties
for farmers2, many of whom have long relied on the
forest resources and produce for their livelihoods,
and who claim that they have not been offered any
alternatives with the establishment of the protected
area (Bohol Chronicle 1999, 14).
 316
Policy and practice in karst landscape protection: the Philippines
PLATE 1 Mixed land use and extensive road network within the Chocolate Hills Natural Monument
 Policy and practice in karst landscape protection: the Philippines
PLATE 2 Intensive, centuries old, wet rice agricultural landscape in the vicinity of the main tourist centre of the Chocolate Hills Natural Monument, the Chocolate
Hills Resort

317
318 Policy and practice in karst landscape protection: the Philippines
The Chocolate Hills Natural Monument
The establishment, in 1997, and the subsequent
history of the Chocolate Hills Natural Monument
(hereafter CHNM), though more recent, bears
several similarities to the establishment of Rajah
Sikatuna National Park in that the Monument is part
of NIPAS, and is managed by the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (Figure 4).
There are important differences, however, in terms
of how and why the protected area was defined.
The CHNM was designated in order to
conserve the landscape for its scenic beauty and
tourism potential. By contrast, RSNP was desig-
nated because of its biodiversity, its hydrological
significance, and its attractiveness to foreign inves-
tors for reforestation. Critically, the area designated
in July 1997 as the CHNM had been held pre-
viously as alienable and disposable land (i.e. pri-
vate land) since the initial surveying of the area in
the early half of the twentieth century (Government
of the Philippines 1997). It is this aspect of the
Monuments establishment the abrogation of pri-
vate ownership and the subsuming of the land to
the state that has resulted in civil strife.
The Natural Monument, which incorporates
1776 individual mogotes, or residual limestone hills,
encompasses an area of 14 435 hectares. The
stated objective of defining the Monument was to
protect the mogotes from further exploitation by
well-financed and technologically advanced quarry-
ing interests. In defining the area to be protected,
the number of mogotes involved was clearly speci-
fied and they were mapped in relation to each
other (Figure 4). However, and significantly, the
legislated protected area extended beyond the hills
themselves to encompass the surrounding plains,
hence the designation of a contiguous area of over
14 000 hectares.
Proclamation No. 1037 states, All public and
private lands within, around and surrounding the
hills shall not be converted to other purposes
which are inconsistent with the objectives of this
proclamation. The proclamation further reads,
. . . regardless of the existence of prior private
rights, no activity of any kind including quarrying,
which shall alter, mutilate, deface, or destroy the
hills shall be conducted. It is these impositions,
representing the curtailment of private property
rights, which have proven the catalysts for civil
unrest. The concept of private property, while intro-
duced only quite recently (1902) to the greater
Philippines (Elliot 1917), has gained widespread
acceptance, and the imposition of controls by the
state over the use of private land is viewed by some
as inimical to basic human rights.
The signing of Proclamation No. 1037 by
then President Fidel Ramos resulted in almost
simultaneous civil uprising, led by the long-
established New Peoples Army (generally
described as Maoist guerrillas) establishing a new
front, known as the Chocolate Hills Command.
. . . the Chocolate Hills Command came to exist after a
sweeping presidential proclamation which declared
the Chocolate Hills area a protected site. For some
farmers, the proclamation is a government scheme, which
suppresses their right to own lands.
Arigo 1999, 1
Conflicts between the command and government
military forces have since escalated, culminating in
two major engagements. The first was the com-
mands raid on a military detachment situated
within the Chocolate Hills Natural Monument itself
in early 1999 (Amora 1999). Nobody was injured
in the raid, although the command relieved the
military detachment of 80 M-16 and M-14 rifles,
three grenade launchers, one 60 mm mortar and an
M-60 machine gun along with ammunition, com-
munications equipment and combat uniforms
(Amora 1999). The second important engagement,
again within the area of the Natural Monument,
was the ambush, in October 1999, of a military
detachment, which resulted in the death of ten
military personnel. Several other altercations have
occurred resulting in the loss of life, namely military
or other persons of standing being assassinated by
so-called sparrow units (small, plain-clothed
groups armed with handguns) of the New Peoples
Army (NPA). Property and the physical plant of
road building and quarrying companies have also
been burned by the NPA.
Beyond the NPA use of the CHNM as a staging
ground and site for ambushing government troops
and harassing road builders, the area has significant
agricultural value, with much of the lowland under
cultivation in rice, corn, root crops and coconuts or
maintained as pastureland for the water buffalo
which are used as draught animals. Small, isolated
patches of land designated as part of the Natural
Monument are also either within the Rajah Sikatuna
National Park or designated as public forestlands,
but most of the designated land (93%), both low-
land and mogotes, is privately-owned and culti-
vated. Some non-resident government officials
perceive the mogotes as under-utilized land, and
those who manage them through seasonal burning
have been repeatedly chastized, but they are
actually an integral part of the agro-ecosystem.
With the cultivation of large areas of the surround-
ing lowlands in the wet season, the mogotes repre-
sent valuable pasture for cattle and water buffalo,
which must be grazed on the hills during the wet
 Policy and practice in karst landscape protection: the Philippines
season to avoid the hoof rot which results from
standing for extended periods in the flooded low-
lands (Urich 1989).
The value of the mogote land has also increased
in the last decade as reforestation programmes
have intensified (Urich and Reeder 1999). Many
farmers now are trying to purchase unused, or what
they perceive to be underused, mogote land for the
establishment of tree plantations.
Given the substantial resident population, the
long history of agro-ecosystem development, and
the civil unrest provoked by establishment of the
Monument, a redesignation of the status of the
protected area might not be inappropriate, as rec-
ognized by the Bohol Provincial Government
(Cambangay 1999). For example, Section (4j) of
the NIPAS Act (DENR 1993), pertaining to pro-
tected landscapes/seascapes might suggest a more
appropriate possible designation:
Protected landscapes/seascapes are areas of national
significance, which are characterized by the harmonious
interaction of man and land while providing opportunities
for public enjoyment through recreation and tourism
within the normal lifestyle and economic activity of these
areas.
Proclamation 1037 included special reference to
quarrying, which was the issue that initiated the
designation of the Natural Monument. This termi-
nology is not integral to the NIPAS Act legislation
but can be incorporated when the appropri-
ate measure is passed through the Senate and
Congress of the Philippines.
Designation of the area as a Natural Monument
also may be seen as less than totally appropriate on
the basis of the area concerned. The NIPAS legis-
lation refers to Natural Monuments as being small
areas with small features. Extending to 14 435
hectares and incorporating 1776 individual
mogotes, the CHNM might not really be considered
small.
The issue of the long-established resident popu-
lation suggests that another piece of NIPAS legis-
lation might also apply to this case. Section 4l refers
to the following:
Tenured migrant communities are communities within
protected areas which have actually and continuously
occupied such areas for five (5) years before the desig-
nation of the same as protected areas in accordance with
this Act and are solely dependent therein for subsistence.
The settlement history of much of the currently
designated Natural Monument would certainly
justify its classification under Clause 4l. Most of the
319
designated area was cleared and used as pasture
before World War Two (Allied Geographical
Section 1944). After World War Two, as pressures
of population on the land intensified, large-scale
settlement of the area occurred and small,
intensively-cultivated farms were established. Cen-
sus data for the affected villages clearly substanti-
ates this change and documents the presence of
settlements in the area well before 1994.
Conclusion
Within the overall context of designation of pro-
tected karst landscapes in South East Asia, the
Philippines has made considerable progress (Day
and Urich 2000). Several significant karst land-
scapes are now incorporated into protected
areas, including those in Bohol. Establishment of
those protected areas has not been without contro-
versy, and each represents unique sets of local
circumstances.
The importance of Rajah Sikatuna National Park
in the context of biodiversity conservation, water
supply, reforestation and potential tourism clearly
justifies protected area designation, particularly
since conservation measures have been in place for
most of the area since 1928. Establishment of the
protected area has caused some local controversy,
especially where private lands have been incorpor-
ated, but the Park has generally been accepted as
representing a redefinition of the status of public
land. Issues that have arisen of late that challenge
the designation are largely based on misinformaton.
The potential for such situations to turn violent is
always present and local actors with correct infor-
mation are becoming more active in quelling
rumours and undermining the spread of misinfor-
mation. In essence, fulfilling the roles of
co-managers of the karst resource.
By contrast, the designation of the Chocolate
Hills Natural Monument was hasty and poorly
conceived, in part because it was a quick fix in
response to negative national press coverage of the
destruction wrought by quarrying, and it has
resulted in serious local conflict. Nevertheless,
there is a general consensus both nationally and
internationally that the Chocolate Hills are a karst
landscape of scientific importance and aesthetic
significance and, as such, their conservation should
be ensured, although perhaps under some aegis
other than as a Natural Monument. The Bohol
Provincial Government has itself suggested that the
legislation defining the Natural Monument should
be changed (Cambangay 1999), which will require
that the proclamation be redrafted and ratified by
both the Philippine House and Senate. This is a
cumbersome and costly process, on which no
progress has been made to date.
320 Policy and practice in karst landscape protection: the Philippines
What is apparent in both cases, however, is that
the enactment of legislation to protect both the
RSNP and the CHNM has neglected to incorporate
local constituencies adequately. In the case of the
RSNP, future conservation will be aided by devel-
oping more integrated and transparent methods of
designating protected land and determining permis-
sible land uses. In the Chocolate Hills, consultation
with the resident population, understanding the
history of land settlement, the intricacies of
the agro-ecosystem and the local perceptions
of the environment will facilitate the establishment
of a less controversial but equally or more effective
category of protected area, which will conserve the
Chocolate Hills not only as a site of international
scientific significance but also as a cultural land-
scape indicative of sensitive human adaptation to
the karst environment.
In a South East Asian and wider developing world
context the processes and reactions analysed in this
local case are important. There are important par-
allels not only in the way that global strategies for
incorporating species-rich and aesthetically import-
ant places are being incorporated into a protected
areas system but also in the forms of resistance that
have and will arise. The violence arising from this
one case in the Philippines we fear, might just be
the beginning of wider conflagrations in the region.
While such conflict is complex in origin we contend
that somewhere in the matrix of underlying issues
there is a relationship between local families,
poverty, subsistence and the threats posed by a
globalized eco-conservation and preservationist
constituency that essentializes local people and
their communities. The links are thus articulated
through global institutions, to national governments
and to local actors and agents. Those yet to be
heard and considered are those most acutely
affected by protected area designation.
Acknowledgments
M Day acknowledges the award in 1999 by the
University of Waikato of a visiting scholarship,
which facilitated the writing of this paper. P Urich
and F Lynagh received financial assistance from the
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Research Grant
programme of the University of Waikato for the
fieldwork component of this research. Thanks are
graciously extended to Max Oulton of the Depart-
ment of Geography, University of Waikato for his
work on the Figures.
Notes
1 Bohol island has a long history of armed insurrection and
military activity. Recorded conflicts include the Tamblot
Uprising of 1622, the Dagohoy Rebellion of 17441825,
the longest recorded resistance to Spanish colonization in
the world, the Filipino-American War, the Second World
War, and the most recent armed insurrection by members
of the New Peoples Army against the Philippine State. The
latter uprising began in the 1970s over issues of land
grabbing (Jones 1989) and continues to focus on land
grabbing either by influential persons or the State. The
history of armed conflict on Bohol is distinctive both in
the number of revolts and their length, and warrants
investigation in another paper.
2 An example of a motive for destruction of the forest
included statements such as the defendant is a farmer
aged 45 years who has finished only Grade 2 and is the
father of ten children. He claimed he decided to cut the
trees so that they will not overshadow his cacao and coffee
plants. He cut up the timber and sold them as firewood at
the town proper in order to buy a few kilos of rice
(Records of the Regional Trial Court, City of Tagbilaran,
1988). The defendant was sentenced to two to three
years imprisonment and was fined P1262.16; and more-
over, he was required to turn over all improvements on the
land and any domestic animals or equipment of any kind
used in the commission of the offence.
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