Environment summit eye-opener for lawmen

LUCENA CITY—A recent summit on environmental laws and their enforcement became an eye-opener for police on their role in protecting the environment, according to provincial environment officials.

The summit, held in Lucban town, helped strengthen the capability of police, courts, nongovernment organizations and government agencies to protect the environment, according to Manny Calayag, of the provincial environment and natural resources office (Enro) of Quezon.

Alfredo Palencia, head of the provincial Enro, called the summit timely as it would “synchronize the actions and interpretation” of environmental laws by different law enforcement agencies.

Palencia, in a phone interview, said it was common for law enforcers to have varied interpretations of environmental laws.

Senior Supt. Ronaldo Genaro Ylagan, Quezon police chief, admitted that most lawmen have limited knowledge about environmental laws and the summit was a big help.

At the summit, officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Enro acknowledged that violations of environmental laws continue in Quezon but these have abated.

“What we have now in Sierra Madre are only pockets of timber poaching,” Palencia said

In a recent interview, Webster Letargo, vice chair of the Provincial Mining Regulatory Board, said illegal rock quarrying also stopped near the slopes of  Mt. Banahaw in Sariaya town.

The summit was initiated by Tanggol Kalikasan (Defense of Nature), a public interest law office which advocates environmental protection.