Fabian expects bill establishing Paso watershed as natural park be approved

Congressman Erbie Fabian yesterday expressed optimism his bill establishing the Pasonanca Watershed as a natural park will soon be approved before the campaign period starts.
Fabian disclosed House Bill No. 1295 is now in the Senate committee chaired by Senator Jamby Madrigal hoping it would catch up with the dateline since many of the pending bills will be left hanging because lawmakers who file their certificate of candidacy will be busy by then in their campaign.

The congressman said once the bill will be approved into law by her Excellency President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, it will now ensure the total protection and preservation of the Pasonanca Watershed and its surrounding areas.He said under the bill a commission will be created to manage and oversee the implementation of the approved law.Fabian said there is a need to preserve and protect the Pasonanca Watershed since it is one of the remaining watersheds left intact in the entire country.According to Fabian, Zamboanga City is still blessed with abundant potable water coming from the Pasonanca watershed.Meanwhile, Fabian said two other bills he passed was recently approved this year by both Houses of Congress and signed into law by Arroyo.He said the president had already signed into law institutionalizing the Talon Talon and Bunguiao National High Schools.The congressman stressed the institutionalization of the two secondary schools is part of his educational agenda to bring quality education in the city’s public schools.Apart from this, Fabian emphasized his vision to upgrade the quality education in the different schools by appropriating millions of pesos for the construction and rehabilitation of school buildings thus, augmenting the classrooms especially in schools where student population has increased, construction of multipurpose halls, building of school fences, turnover of sport equipment, computer laboratories and scholarships.At present, Fabian maintains nearly 400 scholars in different colleges and a thousand scholars under the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (TESDA).The congressman allocates an annual budget of P2 million for the out-of-school and indigent scholars in different barrios who are trained on livelihood projects such as tailoring, cooking, food preservation, carpentry, automotive and others. (Nonong Santiago)        

Via Zamboanga Today