Transport permit for non-timber forest products in typhoon-hit areas waived for 3 months

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—For the next three months, a permit to transport non-timber forest products from private and titled lands will no longer be required if these are to be used for rebuilding houses in areas devastated by typhoons Rolly and Ulysses.

The temporary waiving in the issuance of transport permit in the Cordillera Autonomous Region, Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon), Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, and Palawan) and Bicol has been allowed by Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu in a memorandum on Nov. 27.

Non-timber forest products include bamboo, nipa and anahaw.

However, the transport of uprooted and fallen trees that naturally grew or were planted in private or titled lands in those seven regions needs permits from local officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Cimatu tasked the regional executive directors to supervise the implementation of his order, requiring officials to cite in reports the names, addresses of applicants, number of trees and species, volume, and geotagged photographs.

/MUF