DENR appeals for people support in PRS92

PRESS RELEASE                                                            FOR REFERENCE
January 25, 2010                                                              ALFREDO S. ARAYA
                                                                                         Chief, Regional Public Affairs Office
                                                                                         Telefax: 4820857
                                                                                         Email: araya_rpao5denr@yahoo.com

DENR appeals for people support in PRS92 mojon preservation

LEGAZPI CITY - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is appealing anew for people support in the protection and preservation of geodetic control points (GCPs) or mojons established in different places in the Bicol region under the Philippine Reference System of 1992 (PRS92).

"PRS92 mojons are very important as these serve as basis in all surveying activities,"DENR Regional Executive Director Joselin Marcus Fragada said.

PRS92 is a homogenous national network of geodetic control points, marked by survey monuments or mojons, that have been established using Global Positioning System (GPS) technology.

DENR Catanduanes personnel point to one of recovered mojons in Barangay San Roque, Bato town which were later "adopted" by the said Barangay through a memorandum of agreement signed by its Barangay Captain.

Fragada said that under Executive Order No. 321 issued by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the DENR is mandated to complete the adoption and integration of all surveys into the PRS92 until year 2010.

Fragada said a major part of PRS92 is the establishment of permanent reference points (mojons) nationwide to serve as control points of all survey activities of both the government and private surveyors for the benefit of landowners.

By virtue of EO 45, PRS92 became the standard reference system for all surveying and mapping activities in the Philippines. The same order also mandates that all new surveys and maps shall be referred to the new network and all old surveys shall be integrated into it.

In the regional level, PRS92 is carried out by the DENR Field Network Survey Party (FNSP). This involves two major activities, namely, 1.) densification of PRS92 control points and the recovery of old Bureau of Land Location Monuments (BLLMs) and other old references connected to PRS92; and 2.) data integration which involves encoding of lots surveyed under the cadastral system and other isolated surveys for transformation to PRS92 and integration of other environment and natural resources (ENR) data sets to come up with a standard special reference called control map beneficial to all stakeholders for the country's development.

Fragada said among other strategies in support to PRS92 is information campaign and Adopt-a-Mojon program.

The Adopt-a-Mojon program aims to enlist the participation of local government units, peoples' organization, and the general public in the establishment and preservation of PRS92 mojons.

In Bicol, at least 70 LGUs and Barangay Chairmen have each signed a memorandum of agreement with DENR on adopting mojons in their respective area.

Earlier, Fragada directed all DENR provincial and community officers (PENROs and CENROs) to forge agreement not only with LGUs but also with heads of schools, barangay captains and church officials where the mojons are installed.

Last year 163 PRS92 control points were established bringing to 855 the total number of mojons put up in Bicol as of now.(ASA)