Source: Inquirer.net (Philippines)
Lucena City, Philippines - A big-time financier is behind the illegal logging by Quezon natives inside the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park in Isabela province, an executive of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said Wednesday.
At the same time, Assistant Secretary David Suarez admitted to radio station dwKI-FM here that the DENR has not been able to apprehend all of the migrant tree cutters in its recent operations.
"The report that illegal loggers from my province have shifted operations to Isabela was really disheartening. But, sad to admit, more of them are still in the area. Not all of them were apprehended by the authorities," Suarez, a former Quezon vice governor, said.
On Monday, Isabela Governor Grace Padaca, interviewed by the same radio station, said more than 100 illegal loggers she called "Quezon boys" have been operating in the portion of the Sierra Madre mountain range within her province.
According to Padaca, the Quezon boys, mostly from Real and Mauban towns, have either been directly involved in illegal logging or financing it.
She said Quezon Governor Rafael Nantes had helped transport apprehended loggers back to their home province.
Report say the migrant illegal loggers from Quezon are heavily armed and dangerous.
Jay Lim, community coordinator of the Tanggol Kalikasan (Defenders of Nature)-Southern Luzon, who is a member of the government task force in Isabela, explained that most of the migrant loggers from Quezon have settled in Isabela for years now.
"Most of them have already brought their families. Some have married Isabela natives," Lim said.
He said loggers from the two provinces have a long-running "unholy partnership.
Often, illegal logs seized in the coastal towns of Real and Mauban in Quezon are found to have originated from Isabela and Aurora provinces. The two towns have long been the transshipment point of illegal forest products bound for Metro Manila and other Southern Tagalog provinces.
Father Pete Montallana, head of Task Force Sierra Madre, reiterated the importance of providing livelihood to thousands of mountain dwellers and other stakeholders.
"If the government will continue to ignore the desperate plight of mountain stakeholders and will always turn deaf and blind to the widespread corruption in DENR field workers, the destruction of the country's natural resources will never stop," Montallana said over the phone.
Suarez said the government allocated a P2-billion reforestation fund to rehabilitate the country's denuded forest.
He said the reforestation contracts would be awarded to mountain stakeholders and that contractors who might only use upland dwellers for labor would be barred from the process.
"Our aim is to plant fruit-bearing and endemic trees. For sure, the mountain villagers will not cut fruit trees because [these provide] them with cashable crops," Suarez said.
But Montallana was not impressed with the highly funded reforestation program.
"There had been several reforestation programs in the past. But what happened? Many just end up in the pockets of corrupt government men," the priest lamented.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Group seeks changes to Mt. Isarog project
Written by Danny O. Calleja / Correspondent
IRIGA CITY - Tanggol-Kalikasan, a non-government organization (NGO) based here, wants to change the way a watershed agro-forestry project in Mt. Isarog is applied.
Changes in how the P129-million project is done should make it run in line with policies and guidelines on proper conduct.
Otherwise, doubts would continue to plague the project as some quarters are already pointing to questionable dealings in the way it is being implemented, Jim Monge, Tanggol-Kalikasan community coordinator, said.
“We wanted President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to be aware of this so that necessary corrective measures are applied,” Monge said.
Perhaps, the President could order an investigation so that the public gets to know what is happening with the reforestation program, he said.
The organizational setup and the nature and present status of private contractors should be looked into, Monge said.
Mt. Isarog has been divided into zones such as reforestation, strict protection and multiple-use zones that exact locations and specific zones of the projects should be determined, and the actual cost of each contract and bidding results should be made public, he said.
Monge said the amount of mobilization funds already released for each project should also be made public, as well as original copies of the memorandum of agreement the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) signed with contractors.
It should be a policy in the reforestation project to plant only indigenous species, not imported varieties, to ensure that the trees would survive, he said.
Each project should have gone through deliberations with the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) in the area, he said.
Projects that are now ongoing seemed to have ignored requirements under the National Integrated Protected Areas Systems Act of 1992 casting doubts on the integrity of implementation. “We wanted corrections so that those doubts are erased,” Monge added.
Mayor Alexis San Luis of nearby Pili town in Camarines Sur agrees with Tanggol-Kalikasan’s position, saying it may be possible that rules in the implementation of the projects have been violated. A part of Mt. Isarog is in Camarines Sur.
“Our local government unit [LGU] is preparing a petition for the DENR and the President with the intention of discussing and properly resolving the alleged irregularities,” San Luis said.
His town is among the LGUs of six municipalities and a city that form the Mt. Isarog PAMB—created to protect the environment and forest resources of the dormant volcano.
A DENR employee for over 15 years before becoming mayor of this provincial capital, San Luis said his administration is constantly monitoring activities in Mt. Isarog and keeps a standing comanagement agreement with the DENR in undertaking a reforestation project on a 161-hectare watershed area. He, however, bewailed the noninclusion by the DENR of community-based organizations in the reforestation projects in violation of a PAMB resolution that favors awarding project contracts to such groups.
“It is essential and significant to tap these organizations in reforestation projects to ensure satisfactory accomplishments,” San Luis said.
IRIGA CITY - Tanggol-Kalikasan, a non-government organization (NGO) based here, wants to change the way a watershed agro-forestry project in Mt. Isarog is applied.
Changes in how the P129-million project is done should make it run in line with policies and guidelines on proper conduct.
Otherwise, doubts would continue to plague the project as some quarters are already pointing to questionable dealings in the way it is being implemented, Jim Monge, Tanggol-Kalikasan community coordinator, said.
“We wanted President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to be aware of this so that necessary corrective measures are applied,” Monge said.
Perhaps, the President could order an investigation so that the public gets to know what is happening with the reforestation program, he said.
The organizational setup and the nature and present status of private contractors should be looked into, Monge said.
Mt. Isarog has been divided into zones such as reforestation, strict protection and multiple-use zones that exact locations and specific zones of the projects should be determined, and the actual cost of each contract and bidding results should be made public, he said.
Monge said the amount of mobilization funds already released for each project should also be made public, as well as original copies of the memorandum of agreement the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) signed with contractors.
It should be a policy in the reforestation project to plant only indigenous species, not imported varieties, to ensure that the trees would survive, he said.
Each project should have gone through deliberations with the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) in the area, he said.
Projects that are now ongoing seemed to have ignored requirements under the National Integrated Protected Areas Systems Act of 1992 casting doubts on the integrity of implementation. “We wanted corrections so that those doubts are erased,” Monge added.
Mayor Alexis San Luis of nearby Pili town in Camarines Sur agrees with Tanggol-Kalikasan’s position, saying it may be possible that rules in the implementation of the projects have been violated. A part of Mt. Isarog is in Camarines Sur.
“Our local government unit [LGU] is preparing a petition for the DENR and the President with the intention of discussing and properly resolving the alleged irregularities,” San Luis said.
His town is among the LGUs of six municipalities and a city that form the Mt. Isarog PAMB—created to protect the environment and forest resources of the dormant volcano.
A DENR employee for over 15 years before becoming mayor of this provincial capital, San Luis said his administration is constantly monitoring activities in Mt. Isarog and keeps a standing comanagement agreement with the DENR in undertaking a reforestation project on a 161-hectare watershed area. He, however, bewailed the noninclusion by the DENR of community-based organizations in the reforestation projects in violation of a PAMB resolution that favors awarding project contracts to such groups.
“It is essential and significant to tap these organizations in reforestation projects to ensure satisfactory accomplishments,” San Luis said.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Group jeers DENR's one-strike policy
Delfin Mallari Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
LUCENA CITY, Philippines—The announcement by Environment Secretary Joselito Atienza of his "one-strike policy" of dismissing erring regional officials was met with sarcasm by environmentalist groups.
"That's blatant propaganda. It's an empty threat. Nothing will come out of it," Fr. Pete Montallana, chair of Task Force Sierra Madre, a Church-based forest watchdog, said in a phone interview Friday.
Joey Papa, president of environmentalist group Bangon Kalikasan Movement said Atienza's warning was the "usual PR stunt."
"It's Atienza who's calling the shots, not the regional directors. Malacañang should reshuffle Atienza himself," he said in an email statement to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
For a regional official of Tanggol Kalikasan, a public interest environmental law office, Atienza's new policy if seriously implemented will wipe out all regional heads of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources across the country.
"Illegal logging is prevalent in all parts of the country, from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. If the good Secretary is serious in implementing his new policy, only the regional head of the DENR in the National Capital region will remain because there is no forest to rape in Metro Manila," said environmentalist lawyer Shiela de Leon, TK-Southern Tagalog executive director, in a separate telephone interview.
On Thursday, Atienza announced his "one-strike policy" which he said would lead to the immediate removal of regional officials in areas where illegal logging and other environmental crimes are confirmed to exist.
Atienza announced the policy amid the reported resurgence of illegal logging in Sierra Madre as a result of connivance between corrupt DENR men and illegal loggers.
Montallana alleged that corruption in the DENR has been "perfected" by unscrupulous officials and employees.
"There's a well-entrenched syndicate in every layer of DENR offices. We have submitted evidence of the shenanigans of corrupt DENR men several times but nothing happened. There's one incident in which an investigation we initiated was almost finished then suddenly the probe was stopped for no reason at all," he said.
"Corruption is endemic in the DENR. Getting rid of its corrupt personnel is a long shot. I wish him (Atienza) good luck," the priest said.
De Leon said Atienza should initiate an internal clean up of his department. "The DENR on its own if it's really sincere can identify the gang of corrupt personnel in the house," she said.
"We agree with the secretary that illegal logging cannot happen if not known by field personnel. There is a real need to clean the department of erring personnel," she said.
But for Papa, the commission of environmental crimes in the country has never been stopped and no amount of reshuffling in the DENR could solve or prevent it.
Papa said that after former Environment secretary Angelo Reyes suspended the marble mining operations in Biaknabato, Bulacan, water from inside a cave came back after years of drought for farmers and their households in nearby villages whose rivers and wells were fed by the spring waters.
"When operations resumed, blasting of the mountain has caused the water to recede again, the mountain itself and the caves underneath to be destroyed, and the residents to suffer again the noise, pollution, and tension, compounded by the continuing movement of trucks hauling the marble slabs which has also destroyed the roads," he lamented.
Noting the shortage of DENR resources to effectively fulfill its task to protect the environment, De Leon urged the government and the private sector to pool their resources and efforts together to address the situation.
"Our field experience shows this can be effective," she said.
Copyright 2009 INQUIRER.net and content partners. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
LUCENA CITY, Philippines—The announcement by Environment Secretary Joselito Atienza of his "one-strike policy" of dismissing erring regional officials was met with sarcasm by environmentalist groups.
"That's blatant propaganda. It's an empty threat. Nothing will come out of it," Fr. Pete Montallana, chair of Task Force Sierra Madre, a Church-based forest watchdog, said in a phone interview Friday.
Joey Papa, president of environmentalist group Bangon Kalikasan Movement said Atienza's warning was the "usual PR stunt."
"It's Atienza who's calling the shots, not the regional directors. Malacañang should reshuffle Atienza himself," he said in an email statement to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
For a regional official of Tanggol Kalikasan, a public interest environmental law office, Atienza's new policy if seriously implemented will wipe out all regional heads of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources across the country.
"Illegal logging is prevalent in all parts of the country, from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. If the good Secretary is serious in implementing his new policy, only the regional head of the DENR in the National Capital region will remain because there is no forest to rape in Metro Manila," said environmentalist lawyer Shiela de Leon, TK-Southern Tagalog executive director, in a separate telephone interview.
On Thursday, Atienza announced his "one-strike policy" which he said would lead to the immediate removal of regional officials in areas where illegal logging and other environmental crimes are confirmed to exist.
Atienza announced the policy amid the reported resurgence of illegal logging in Sierra Madre as a result of connivance between corrupt DENR men and illegal loggers.
Montallana alleged that corruption in the DENR has been "perfected" by unscrupulous officials and employees.
"There's a well-entrenched syndicate in every layer of DENR offices. We have submitted evidence of the shenanigans of corrupt DENR men several times but nothing happened. There's one incident in which an investigation we initiated was almost finished then suddenly the probe was stopped for no reason at all," he said.
"Corruption is endemic in the DENR. Getting rid of its corrupt personnel is a long shot. I wish him (Atienza) good luck," the priest said.
De Leon said Atienza should initiate an internal clean up of his department. "The DENR on its own if it's really sincere can identify the gang of corrupt personnel in the house," she said.
"We agree with the secretary that illegal logging cannot happen if not known by field personnel. There is a real need to clean the department of erring personnel," she said.
But for Papa, the commission of environmental crimes in the country has never been stopped and no amount of reshuffling in the DENR could solve or prevent it.
Papa said that after former Environment secretary Angelo Reyes suspended the marble mining operations in Biaknabato, Bulacan, water from inside a cave came back after years of drought for farmers and their households in nearby villages whose rivers and wells were fed by the spring waters.
"When operations resumed, blasting of the mountain has caused the water to recede again, the mountain itself and the caves underneath to be destroyed, and the residents to suffer again the noise, pollution, and tension, compounded by the continuing movement of trucks hauling the marble slabs which has also destroyed the roads," he lamented.
Noting the shortage of DENR resources to effectively fulfill its task to protect the environment, De Leon urged the government and the private sector to pool their resources and efforts together to address the situation.
"Our field experience shows this can be effective," she said.
Copyright 2009 INQUIRER.net and content partners. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
