When mangrove trees were cut down in Barangay Hukay in Calatagan, Batangas, last month to clear a foreshore area for the construction of a Philippine Air Force (PAF) detachment, militant fishers’ groups have cried “massacre.”
“The massacre of mangrove forest in Barangay Hukay does not only constitute grave human rights violations, it is also one of the highest forms of environmental destruction and red carpet killing of people’s livelihood,” Fernando Hicap, national chair of Pamalakaya, said in a statement on Monday.
Pamalakaya reported that about 400 mangrove trees covering 1.5 hectares of land were felled by the military and urged the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to investigate.
The Inquirer went to Hukay on Tuesday to check the veracity of the charge and found another version.
Romelio Macalalad, the barangay chair, said more than 50 kalapinay (Avicennia) trees belonging to the mangrove family were cut in a clearing operation which began on Feb. 20, affecting 5,000 square meters of land.
“Ang kalapinay ay kusang tumutubo sa tabing-dagat hindi kagaya ng bakawan (mangrove) na itinatanim pa (Kalapinay naturally grows near the shore unlike the bakawan which has to be planted),” said a 68-year-old-woman resident, who declined to be named.
“Tutubo pa ang mga ’yun, nando’n pa ang mga ugat eh (The kalapinay will still grow because the roots are still intact),” she added.
Other residents, Ofelia Velasco and Loreta Endaya, said they do not have bakawan but kalapinay and other shrubs that grow by themselves and do not need to be planted.
Asked on Tuesday to comment on the differing details of the report, Pamalakaya said it was standing by its account.
In an interview on Monday, Hicap said members of the PAF’s 730th Combat Group led by Sgt. Joel Macasaet and of the Army’s 16th Infantry Battalion led by Sgt. Ryan Gonzales removed the mangrove trees in Hukay on Feb. 21.
Citing local reports, Hicap said 10 soldiers—four from the PAF unit and six from the Army unit—arrived at the village in early February with materials to be used in building a detachment near the mangrove area.
They were prevented from touching the mangroves after local policemen intervened, Pamalakaya said. But on Feb. 21, it said, the soldiers and some 30 construction workers returned and proceeded to cut the mangrove forest covering 1.5 ha of foreshore land.
Hicap said around 400 old trees were destroyed and another 200 new ones were uprooted.
“What happened on Feb. 20-24 is state terrorism and environmental destruction rolled into one. [Environment] Secretary Ramon Paje should look into this nightmare involving men in uniform and the local officials of Calatagan,” he said in the statement.
Macalalad, the barangay chair, told the Inquirer that he allowed members of the PAF’s 740th Combat Group to cut more than 50 kalapinay trees in a 1.6-ha property donated by a private individual to the Calatagan municipality. Hukay has a population of 2,352, whose sources of livelihood are fishing and planting of sugarcane and vegetables.
“Kalapinay doesn’t serve as a laying site for fish since they grow along the shore and not in the water,” Mien Custodio, the municipal environment and natural resources officer, said in another interview.
Her records did not show any mangrove trees in Hukay, she said.
Custodio said her office had been focused on the rehabilitation of mangroves in 261.56 ha in 17 villages—Bagong Silang, Baha, Balibago, Balitoc, Bucal, Encarnacion, Carretunan, Gulod, Sambungan, Sta. Ana, Talibayog, Talisay, Tanagan, Poblacion 1, Poblacion 2, Poblacion 3 and Poblacion 4.
She said that in cases where mangroves were sacrificed for government projects, the trees must be replaced since these protect the coastal communities from big waves and serve as habitat for fish and other aquatic resources.
The officer recalled massive cutting of mangroves in Calatagan in 1990 until 2001 when the Bantay-Dagat (sea patrol) was created. In 2006, the cutting of mangroves was decreased because of the enforcement of the Calatagan Municipal Fisheries Code, which imposed a ban on mangrove cutting.
In clearing the mangrove area in Hukay, Pamalakaya charged the military with violating Republic Act No. 7161 or the law prohibiting the cutting of mangrove trees, a joint memorandum circular of the DENR and the Department of the Interior and Local Government, RA 8550 (Fisheries Code), DENR Administrative Order 901-5 and Presidential Decree No. 705.
It was not known, however, if a case was formally filed.