Atienza orders review of Aurora logging firm operations
By Tonette Orejas
Central Luzon Desk
First Posted 23:20:00 04/30/2008
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Philippines -- Environment Secretary Lito Atienza ordered a review of the five-year operation plan of a logging company in northern Aurora on the heels of protests by residents and appeals by local officials, Environment Undersecretary Manuel Gerochi said on Wednesday.
"Yes we are reviewing," Gerochi said, referring to the integrated annual operation plan of the Industries Development Corp. (IDC).
Atienza approved the renewal of IDC's plan in June 2007, but Dinalungan Mayor Tito Tubigan and Fr. Ceferino Valenzuela of the Concerned Citizens of Dinalungan (CCD) said they learned about it only in early April.
The approved plan covered IDC's Integrated Forest Management Agreement No. 2001-06 that spans 48,877 hectares in the neighboring towns of Dinalungan, Casiguran and Dilasag. It has another Ifma for at least 9,466 hectares.
But Gerochi, who heads the lands management sector of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, clarified that a review "did not mean that we are agreeing [with the opposition]."
In disputes, DENR would decide on "valid, scientific grounds," he said.
"The problem is we are putting emotions in issues," Gerochi said.
As things stood, he said the DENR had "no basis to cancel" because Malacañang, on IDC's appeal, lifted the suspension of the company's harvesting operations during the stint of former Environment Secretary Michael Defensor.
The DENR could not cancel the operations also because the agency adheres to a policy of tenure in forestlands, according to Gerochi.
"The healthiest forests are those that are managed. Illegal logging happens in open forests. That's why we are encouraging tenure in forestlands," Gerochi said.
"I challenge them, fly over," he said, referring to forests covered by IFMA or community-based forest management agreement. The IFMA replaced the timber licensing agreements as an instrument for logging companies to harvest for commercial timber. The difference of the IFMA is the requirement on IFMA holders to reforest logging areas.
"The DENR is responsible for the country's forests. It decides what is best for the forests. It is the decision-makers who will protect the forests," he said.
Gerochi added that decisions on such matters should not be done for political reasons.
At 9 a.m. on Wednesday, the three-day information caravan by the CCD in Dinalungan's nine villages ended in the village of Caloocan, in the town's boundary with Dipaculao.
"In that part, we saw lots of stumps. Many trees have been cut," Valenzuela said by phone.
The CCD has been opposing legal and illegal logging activities in the town, saying these have made the town more prone to landslides and flashfloods since 1985.
Tubigan said the IDC did not consult officials and residents, and applied only for business and mayor's permits
IDC officials did not return calls of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.
In a previous report, the IDC said it had primary wood manufacturing facilities consisting of a sawmill, veneer and plywood operations based in Casiguran. Its furniture manufacturing facility is in Pasig City.
It reported preparing a P15-million cloning plantation that would produce two million seedlings a year.
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