Stricter law on golf courses urged

Stricter law on golf courses urged

MANILA (Reuter): A Philippine senator said yesterday he would
ask Congress to pass a new law calling for stricter regulation of
golf courses to lessen damage on the environment.

Ernesto Herrera, vice-chairman of the Senate committee on
environment, said the proposed legislation would require all golf
course developers to secure an environmental clearance
certificate from the government.

Present regulations only require such certificates in high-
risk areas, such as heavily wooded places, where developers would
have to chop down many trees, Herrera's spokeswoman Lynette
Deloria said by telephone.

Besides consuming huge volumes of water daily and worsening
soil erosion, the country's more than 100 golf courses also
threaten the ecology because they use weed killers and other
chemicals that pollute water resources, Herrera said in a
statement.

He warned the proliferation of golf courses could aggravate
water shortages now felt in Manila and trigger similar shortages
in provinces where golf courses are being developed to attract
tourists.