Protected Areas in Region 2
Protected Areas in Region 2
Protected Areas in Region 2
in
REGION 2
Hill
National
Park is
a protected
area of
in
the municipality of Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya in Cagayan Valley. The park covers an area of
13.90 hectares. It was declared a national park in 1995 by virtue of Republic Act No. 7954.
The park is a historic and cultural landmark of Nueva Vizcaya, being the site of the first
mass in the province in 1739 officiated by Father Pedro Freire. The event also marked the
founding of the municipality of Bayombong. The park is also the site of the annual "Stations of
the Cross" staged by the local Catholic Church during the Lenten season using live actors
depicting the last moments leading to Jesus Christ's crucifixion. It is also an ideal year-round
destination for hiking enthusiasts with the observation deck commanding a great view of the
expanse of the surrounding valley formed by the Caraballo and Cordillera Central mountains.
The
park
is
inhabited
by
three
indigenous
groups,
namely
the Ibanag, Itawes and Aeta. It is also known for its archaeological relics discovered within its
caves. The limestone formations found within its 300 cave systems, the most popular of which
areCallao Caveand Sierra Cave.
Peablanca
Protected Landscape and Seascape, Peablanca, Cagayan
sits
on
the
foothills
of
the
The park is located some 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tuguegarao, Cagayan's capital
and largest city and some 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) south of San Mariano, Lal-lo where the Northern
Cagayan International Airport is being constructed. It is accessible via the Santa Ana Road from
the Port of San Vicente in Santa Ana in the north and from the Pan-Philippine Highway (AH26)
from the west through the Magapit Suspension Bridge.
ranges.
The river is used heavily for irrigation and serves much of the surrounding communities in
Central Luzon and Cagayan Valley. It also supplies hydroelectric power to the region, an
additional 140 megawatts of power capacity to the Luzon grid through an underground tunnel
and powerhouse built in 2001 from the diversion weirs in the Casecnan and Taan Rivers in
Nueva Vizcaya near Mount Guiwan to the Pantabangan Dam in Nueva Ecija.
Protected
Landscape is
a protected
area in
of Luzon that covers a large portion of the province of Quirino. It was established in 2004 to
preserve the watershed area containing the headwaters of the Cagayan River, also known as the
Rio Grande de Cagayan, which supports major irrigation systems in the entire Cagayan
Valley region. From an initial area of 206,875.41 hectares (511,200.3 acres), the protected area
now forms a total aggregate area of 175,943.62 hectares (434,766.2 acres) divided into three
parcels after a 2005 amendment opened up a few areas to mining. It is a key biodiversity area of
the Sierra Madre Biodiversity Corridor
forest through Executive Order No. 44 signed by Governor-General Francis Burton Harrison. In
1926, through amendments made in Proclamation No. 53 by Governor-General Leonard Wood,
the forest reserve was re-established as the Salinas Deer Refuge. Salinas was finally declared a
natural monument in 2000 under the National Integrated Protected Areas System through
Proclamation No. 275 by President Joseph Estrada.
September 1979. On 10 March 1997, the area was converted into a natural park with the signing
of Proclamation No. 978 by President Fidel Ramos.
The park is considered the richest in terms of genetic, species and habitat diversity in the
Philippines. It is one of the country's ten priority protected areas managed by its own Protected
Area Management Board headed by the Regional Executive Director of the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources for Region II under the rules set forth in Article III of
Republic Act 9125, also known as the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park (NSMNP) Act of
2001. In 2006, the protected area was added to the Philippines' tentative list of potential World
Heritage Sites.