Palace OKs citizens’ arm vs illegal logging
By Delfin Mallari Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:15:00 07/16/2008
LUCENA CITY – President Macapagal-Arroyo and forest protection advocates have agreed to form a citizens’ body to fight continued illegal logging in the Sierra Madre mountain ranges, the head of a Church-based forest protection watchdog said Tuesday.
The move, according to Fr. Pete Montallana, came in the wake of the apparent failure of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and other government agencies to stop illegal logging in the area.
Montallana heads the Task Force Sierra Madre (TFSM).
He said Bishop Rolando Tria Tirona and a delegation from northern Quezon met with Ms Arroyo last month in Malacańang and voiced serious concern on continued illegal logging in Sierra Madre.
Montallana said the delegation “related to the President what’s really happening in Sierra Madre.”
He said logging continued despite the replacement of community environment and natural resources officers in three towns – Real, Quezon and Dingalan in Aurora province – from where loggers get access to Sierra Madre.
During the meeting, he said, Ms Arroyo, Environment Secretary Joselito Atienza and the delegation agreed to form two Citizens Independent Investigating Teams (CIIT) to prevent further logging in the mountains.
One team would be assigned to Quezon and the other to Aurora.
Montallana said he believed that connivance between officials and employees of the DENR and logging syndicates had been a major factor in the continued destruction of the mountain.
Tirona, head of the Prelature of Infanta, also blamed the DENR for the continued destruction of Sierra Madre.
Last week, the TFSM wrote Atienza and submitted names of nominees to compose the citizens’ bodies. The group also asked the DENR chief to empower the investigating teams.
The letter asked Atienza to allow the CIIT to investigate and have access to all documents of the DENR based in northern Quezon and Aurora from 2006-2008. It asked Atienza to release documents covering Laguna, Rizal and Nueva Ecija, where illegally cut lumber were being sneaked out.
The CIIT also wants to have the power to investigate and interview DENR personnel in the areas and other local government official suspected of involvement in illegal logging.
Montallana said they were also grateful that Ms Arroyo ordered the cancellation, as a matter of “public policy,” of the controversial 25-year Integrated Forestry Management Agreement (Ifma) of Bulacan-based logger Wilson Ng, president of Timberland Forest Products Inc.
“The soonest this is done, the better for the environment,” he said.
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