Rape of Sierra Madre tagged cause of floods

THE HEAD of a group demanding a stop to logging in Sierra Madre pointed to the continuing rise in floodwater in parts of Central Luzon as a direct result of the mountain range’s denudation.

Fr. Pete Montallana, head of Save Sierra Madre Network Alliance, said “we are now reaping the effects of the continued rape of the environment.”

“The flooding and destruction are manifestations of Sierra Madre’s wrath,” he said.

A legislator said that aside from awareness on environmental destruction’s effects, students should learn disaster preparedness in school.

Valenzuela City Rep. Win Gatchalian (Nationalist People’s Coalition) filed a bill in September that seeks to “institutionalize regular drills” for disaster preparedness in schools.

“The occurrence of natural or human-induced disasters does not give us warnings or the time to make quick judgments,” said Gatchalian, author of House Bill No. 6181.

Gatchalian’s measure calls for the establishment of a disaster management committee in each school that would oversee disaster reduction and preparedness activities and maintain links with local risk reduction and management councils.

The school committees, to be set up in all schools, would be responsible for the conduct of drills for earthquakes, fire and other emergencies.

The committees would also be in charge of identifying high-risk areas in schools and developing disaster management plans.

Under the Gatchalian bill, schools are expected to conduct at least five safety drills every semester or at least twice a year.

The committees would be headed by top school officials and composed of representatives from teaching and nonteaching personnel, students, parent-teacher associations, barangay councils, religious sector and other community leaders.

But Montallana said no amount of preparation would work if Sierra Madre is not protected.

“The natural capability of the great Sierra Madre to protect the people and the community from destructive typhoons has been dramatically weakened by man’s insatiable greed,” the Franciscan priest said.

Montallana said corruption in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) was the culprit in Sierra Madre’s destruction.

He said hundreds of millions of pesos meant for environmental protection and reforestation were being lost to corruption.

The Aquino administration is seeking a P10-billion budget for the National Greening Program (NGP), a reforestation plan being handled by the DENR, for next year.

But in a 2013 audit report, the Commission on Audit (COA) described the NGP as “unsuccessful.”

According to the COA, the DENR implemented the tree-planting program and the cadastral survey project for 10 regions without an efficient and effective system of implementing and monitoring projects.

Montallana said that in 2012, President Aquino himself admitted that his log-ban order in Sierra Madre was being defied by illegal loggers in connivance with some DENR men. Delfin T. Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon