Prior Rights: A Breakout in the RA 7586 Otherwise Known as National Integrated Protected Area System (NIPAS), as Amended by RA 11038 or the Expanded National Integrated Protected Area System (ENIPAS)

The Philippines has always been considered one of the major biodiversity hotspots in the world. With ecosystems that boasts of one of the highest levels of diversity and endemicity of life forms and some of the most unique habitats in the world, it is also home to some of the planet’s critically endangered species of wildlife, such as the Philippine eagle – one of the most magnificent raptors in the world and our country’s symbol of biodiversity conservation. However, the country’s habitats and ecosystems, which play a major role in maintaining ecological balance and in the day-to-day lives of Filipinos, are in constant threat, mainly from unwise resource use and development paradigms that tend to increase pressure on the world’s already scarce resources.