LINGAYEN, Pangasinan—Nature has reclaimed the 19.5-kilometer road project built by a private contractor in the boundary of Pangasinan and Zambales provinces in 2008 and which was believed to have been used for illegal logging.
More than 200 trees in a 700-meter stretch of the forest in Mangatarem town in Pangasinan were cut to make way for the road, which was started without a contract from the Department of Public Works and Highways. The trees were cut without a permit from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
The road project, however, has been abandoned and is no longer passable to vehicles, said Lt. Col. Nick Alarcio, deputy brigade commander of the Army’s 702nd Infantry Brigade based in Binmaley town.
Norma Laluan, forestry specialist of the community environment and natural resources office (Cenro) in Dagupan City, said rainwater and soil that eroded from the mountains went down the stretch of the road, transforming it into a landscape of potholes and mounds.
The road was used by illegal loggers to enter Pangasinan’s largest remaining rainforest in Mangatarem. It served as the main artery from which networks of roads and trails that went deeper into the forest were built.
The Army helped the DENR stop massive illegal logging in the area in 2012.
Laluan said no sapling had germinated in the area where the road used to run, noting that it may take many years before the area can regain its former state.
She said only grasses thrived there. Rivulets or ministreams form in the area during rainy days, she said.
Raymundo Gayo, Cenro officer in charge, said the DENR filed a criminal case against the drivers and operators of a bulldozer found near the forest, which military and DENR personnel presumed to have been used in illegal logging.
The drivers and operators of the heavy equipment, however, have yet to be arrested, he said.
The Army put up a detachment in the entrances and exits of the forest, preventing logging trucks and other vehicles from going there, Alarcio said.
But timber poaching and charcoal making continue to threaten the forest, Gayo said.
A Cenro report last year showed that the cutting down of trees and poaching of forest products were being done by residents in nearby communities.
Guarding the 37,000-hectare rainforest that straddles four towns in western Pangasinan is no easy task, forest rangers said.
“Some residents are sincere in protecting the forest. But most, since they are poor and dependent on forest products, can be considered enemies of the forest,” said Evalyn Capito, 52, a former forest ranger.
She said that when she started working as a forest ranger in 1993, the tree cover of the Mangatarem forest was thick.
Capito said forest rangers like her continued to face dangers in their jobs.
“For instance, you pose as a buyer of timber and you will be sent to somebody who cuts down trees. You accompany soldiers and policemen to arrest those involved in illegal logging,” she said.
“We get threats from loggers, so we need to be careful,” she added.
Another forest ranger, John Barbiran, said people living near the forest assumed that they could freely use the forest’s resources. Yolanda Sotelo, Inquirer Northern Luzon