More trees will fall due to polls, tribesmen say

LUCENA CITY—“More trees would be cut and smuggled out of the (Sierra Madre) mountains to finance the candidacy of corrupt politicians,” an Agta tribe leader in northern Quezon has warned.

Ramcy Astoveza, director of the Tribal Development Center based in Infanta, Quezon, said that illegal logging in the Sierra Madre, which continues despite the government log ban, is bound to get worse with the coming elections as more trees would be cut to finance the candidacies of illegal loggers who support politicians.

Astoveza said politicians show two faces during elections on the issue of mountain protection. There’s the pseudo environmentalist who professes to champion the cause of protecting the Sierra Madre, and the candidate who fronts for financiers and protectors of illegal loggers, he said.

“This is the cycle every election, be it local or national,” he said.

Fellow tribe leader Nap Buendicho, for his part, registered as an independent candidate for councilor of General Nakar, Quezon, “to help protect the Sierra Madre” from further destruction.

Buendicho said his candidacy was decided by the council of tribe leaders so that the indigenous people could be represented in decision-making in the local government.

“This is a matter of survival for the whole tribe and our homeland,” he said in a phone interview.

Buendicho said he was the second tribe member to join the local polls, following

Conchita Calzado who was elected councilor of General Nakar before being appointed commissioner of the National Commission on Indigenous People.

Avoiding to compromise platform

“She was elected under a political party. We have decided to go independent this time so as not to compromise our main platform which is to protect the Sierra Madre,” Buendicho said.

Reelectionist General Nakar Mayor Leovigildo Rozul welcomed Buendicho’s electoral bid.

“He can help the local council in the formulation of laws (as well as) projects and programs for the protection of the Sierra Madre,” Rozul said.

Meanwhile, Fr. Pete Montallana, head of the Save Sierra Madre Alliance, called on Filipino voters to be more discerning and “(to) vote for candidates with true and genuine environmental protection advocacies to save the remaining fragile environment.”