For the sake of capacitating its Peoples Organizations (POs) on the mandatory government requirements, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has recently inked a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The collaboration is about adopting the Project called SEC Communication, Advocacy, and Network (SEC-CAN!) which also supports the Annual Investor Protection Week (IPW) activities slated for the second week of November 2023.

“Our partnership will not be limited to our Peoples Organizations (POs) but probably, we will be extending this to other permittees of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – for those purveyors of permits and other licensees who are required to have a SEC Registration because this is actually a mandatory requirement,” DENR 6 Regional Executive Director Livino B. Duran said.

The MOA however focuses on the POs which the DENR 6 aims to assist. Many of the POs are issued with the tenurial instrument called Community-Based Forest Management Agreement (CBFMA) by the Department which is good for 25 years and renewable for another 25 years. “Their legal identity, their SEC Registration should be updated for 50 years. If they fail to renew after 25 years, they are no longer eligible for renewal of their Agreement. This is the very reason why we wanted to help them,” Duran added.

RED Duran further called the POs as the “backbone of development in the rural areas” whose life activities revolved around implementation of DENR’s greening and livelihood projects which result in forest protection, biodiversity conservation and climate change adaptation. SEC Registration and other mandatory requirements (which include financial statements) are some of the things which the POs needed to have a mastery of, or they lose the chance to secure another 25 years in the future of their children and their community as a whole.

As of date, the DENR 6 has more than a hundred POs issued with CBFMA. Meanwhile, the DENR regional office had also issued one Protected Area Community-Based Resource Management Agreement (PACBARMA), and other agreements include Socialize Industrial Forest Management Agreement (SIFMA), and Industrial Forest Management Agreement (IFMA). Other permittees include wood processing plants and lumber dealers who also need the SEC Registration. All those issued with tenurial instruments are required to establish their legal personalities to be able to transact business with the government.

“With utmost appreciation, the Iloilo SEC Extension Office is very appreciative of the acceptance of the DENR in future collaborations with our Office. This MOA signing formalizes our collaborations henceforth, and the SEC will proudly accept any invite from your agency especially pertaining to financial literacy and advocacies with your Peoples Organization and your employees,” said Atty. Ma. Cristina T. Montelibano, regional director of SEC Iloilo.

The Peoples Organizations concerned will benefit from the trainings under the project which are designed to educate them on the fundamentals of investing, financial literacy, investor protection and investment scams.