Benguet Rep. Yap seeks inquiry into government readiness vs forest fires

BATTLING THE BLAZE | A helicopter of the Philippine Air Force Tactical Operations Group (PAF TOG) 1, stationed in Baguio City, airlifts a water bucket to help douse a forest fire in Itogon, Benguet, in this photo taken on Jan. 27, 2024. (Photo from PAF TOG)

MANILA, Philippines — Benguet Rep. Eric Yap wants a congressional inquiry into the government’s capacity to prevent and contain forest fires, which destroyed some 200 hectares (ha) of woodland in the Cordillera region in January this year.

Yap filed House Resolution No. 1603, calling on the House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources to look into the capacity and readiness of concerned agencies in dealing with forest fires, which he described as “any uncontrollable and nonprescribed combustion of burning plants in a natural setting, which consumes the natural fuels and spreads based on environmental conditions.”

He pointed out that “authorities have been raising the alarm over the incidents of forest fires in the country through the years, particularly in the Cordillera region.”

“In past years, forest fires broke out in different parts of the region due to kaingin or slash-and-burn farming and clearing operations, worsened by the dry spell experienced in these areas between January and April,” Yap said.

According to the lawmaker, in February 2019, a forest fire engulfed some 6 ha of Eastern Saddle in Ampucao, Itogon, Benguet, where five people were killed.

He also said there were 52 incidents of nonstructural fires in the first quarter of 2023 when over 872 ha of forestland, grassland, and watershed reservations in different parts of Benguet were damaged.

Fire surge

Yap cited data from the Bureau of Fire Protection, which showed an uptrend in forest fires where there were 41 in 2022 and 100 in 2023.

“A major fire destroyed large forest and bush areas in Sitio Palangshe in Barangay Dalupirip and Simpa in Barangay Ampucao in the municipality of Itogon, Benguet from Jan. 28 to Jan. 31, which later on spread to the nearby village of Tinongdan on Feb. 2,” he pointed out.

The lawmaker noted that the Benguet provincial government issued on Feb. 2 an executive order, suspending all tourism-related activities in Itogon “as fires continue to ravage its mountains and forests.”

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“While we recognize and laud the efforts of various government agencies, there is still an apparent need to revisit the capability of the agencies to prevent or contain the devastation that this phenomenon brings about,” Yap stressed.

He added that apart from extinguishing the fire, “There must also be rehabilitation or reforestation of damaged areas so as to restore the healthy, diverse, and resilient ecological systems in the area, not to mention preventive measures in order to avoid such occurrences from happening altogether as much as possible.”