Eternal vigilance key to save Bataan forest from logging

The tragedy that Tropical Storm “Sendong” wrought in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan in northern Mindanao are pushing environment advocates to urge the private sector and the government to protect and monitor illegal logging at the Bataan National Park (BNP).

Former Bataan Rep. Felicito Payumo, now chair of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, says what happened in Cagayan de Oro could happen in Bataan if the BNP is not protected from illegal loggers.

“What many here don’t know is this is where the lifeblood of the province is from. It’s heartbreaking that we are the ones destroying the area,” he says.

Payumo cites the denudation of 5 to 8 hectares in the caldera of Mt. Natib, a dormant volcano, which is a direct result of illegal logging activities.

As a response, he gathered stakeholders in the area whose support is crucial to the protection of the environment, including nongovernment organizations, local governments, the police, military and residents of affected communities.

Mila Ramirez, a forester of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, says Bataan, a pea shaped peninsula facing the West Philippine Sea and Manila Bay, has two mountain groups: the BNP and the Mariveles watershed.

She says logging in the province began in 1909 in Limay town where a lumber company built a road about 15 km long and cut forest trees from an elevation of 50 to 500 meters above sea level (masl).

Although the BNP was created by Proclamation No. 24 by President Sergio Osmeña in 1945, which then included 31,400 ha, various laws had been passed that today it only comprises about 18,000 ha.

Among the developments Ramirez cites were Proclamation No. 26, issued on April 18, 1966, excluding from Proclamation No. 24 a portion of land in Pilar town and reserving this for a national shrine; Proclamation No. 1956, issued in March 25, 1980, excluding 6,000 ha from Proclamation No. 24 to be classified as timberland for forest purposes; and Proclamation No. 192, issued on Nov. 27, 1987, that declared the Kanawan Negritos Preservation Area.

The passage of Republic Act No. 7227, which created the Bases Conversion and Development Authority and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, also diminished the coverage of BNP.

Other decrees that reduced the park’s territory were Proclamation No. 932, which delineated the boundary of the Subic special economic and freeport zone, and Proclamation No. 984, issued on March 26, 1992, which created the Morong Special Economic Zone. Ramirez says these developments subjected the BNP to “conflicting land uses, brisk growth of human settlements and rapid deforestation.”

“The BNP deteriorated at a fast rate due to human-influenced activities such as illegal cutting and conversion of forest lands to crop lands,” she says.

Payumo says the lessons taught by Sendong should be enough reason to do something about the situation in Bataan.

“When we climbed Mt. Natib, the caldera was covered with old growth forest. When it rains, the water trickles down to the ground, and it’s absorbed, so the water that flows in the streams are clear and clean,” he says.

But as a result of population pressure and illegal logging, the forest land is receding.

“We can’t help the increase in population, but there should be a strictly protected area, a final line [where no kind of development will be allowed], and then a buffer zone is established, and then the buildable area is clearly marked,” he says.

Payumo says this must be done because if the old growth forest is destroyed, a repeat of the devastating floods in Mindanao is not remote.

“If [the forest] disappears, and then it rains, water goes directly to the soil and what will flow down to us is mud, exactly like what happened in Cagayan de Oro,” he says.