Fears raised new bridge to abet logging

LUCENA CITY—The opening of the Umiray Bridge connecting the provinces of Quezon and Aurora and funded by the Japanese government, is raising fears that illegal logging and land grabbing are coming next.

Ramcy Astoveza, chief of the Agta tribe in the northern Quezon part of the Sierra Madre mountain range, said the new bridge provided “easy access” to the mountain.

Astoveza, also executive director of Tribal Center for Development Foundation Inc. (TCDFI), said the whole tribe should be more vigilant in protecting its ancestral domain.

Fr. Pete Montallana, once in charge of Sierra Madre Agta natives but is now based in Sri Lanka, called the new Umiray Bridge a sample of “short-sighted development.”

Astoveza called on the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and law enforcers to be more active against illegal logging in Sierra Madre as the new bridge offers another route to forest resources in Sierra Madre.

Citing information from local residents, he said the new Marikina-Infanta Road that passes along the slopes of Sierra Madre had become the latest exit point for illegally sawn lumber.

The government has surveyed the tribal lands for the issuance of certificates of ancestral domain title (CADT) but Astoveza said the Agtas had yet to receive the titles that would give them legal defense against land grabbers.

He pointed to a realty developer, Green Circle Properties and Resources Inc., as among the threats to the Agta ancestral domain claim and the environment of Sierra Madre.

Pardoned plunder convict Joseph Estrada, during his brief stint as President, had declared the area that the firm wants to develop a “special economic and tourism zone.”

Astoveza said he expected the firm to be “more assertive” in entering areas considered as ancestral domain of the Agtas and protected habitat inside Sierra Madre.

He said that while the Agtas did not oppose the new bridge, authorities should make sure it did not lead to dispossession of ancestral domain of the Agtas and environmental destruction.

Philippine and Japanese government officials opened the P350-million bridge recently.

Before the bridge was built, residents of Dingalan and General Nakar towns rode boats to reach the other side.

The 358-meter bridge project was implemented by the Department of Agrarian Reform with funding from the Japan International Cooperation Agency.