LUCENA CITY?The controversial 25-year forest management contract granted to Timberland Forest Products Inc. (TFPI) covering 36,660 hectares in the Quezon province part of Sierra Madre has been finally revoked by Malacañang.
In a Malacañang order dated Oct. 21 and received by the municipal government of Infanta, Quezon on Nov. 25, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita directed the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to immediately implement the revocation and cancellation order on the Integrated Forest Management Agreement (IFMA) No. 2007-07 issued to TFPI.
The company is owned by Bulacan-based logger Wilson Ng.
?The cancellation of TFPI?s IFMA would surely enhance the government?s effort in protecting and conserving our forest resources in that part of the country,? Ermita said in his order, a copy of which was obtained by the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net).
Citing Section 20 of the Forest Reform Code, which was affirmed by the Supreme Court in a ruling, Malacañang maintained that timber licenses, permits and license agreements are merely evidence of privilege granted by the State to qualified entities but without permanent or irrevocable right to the area.
National interest
?They may be validly amended, modified, replaced, or rescinded by the Chief Executive when the national interest so requires as in this case,? Ermita explained.
Malacañang said the order was also based on a report submitted by the Task Force Sierra Madre citing destructive effects of continuous logging inside the area granted to TFPI.
The IFMA was granted on Nov. 12, 2002, during the term of then Environment Secretary Heherson Alvarez.
Alvarez?s successor, Elisea Gozun, revoked the IFMA on Jan. 13, 2004, saying ?fraud, misrepresentation and omission of material facts? surrounded the process by which the DENR granted it.
Ironically, the agreement was reinstated by Malacañang on March 4, 2005, four months after flash floods and landslides struck Real, Infanta and General Nakar towns. Delfin T. Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon
