Road plan in protected area alarms bishop

A LOGGING road in the Northern Sierra Madre mountain ranges will be rehabilitated, raising alarm among Church officials.
VILLAMOR VISAYA JR./INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

GAMU, Isabela—Church leaders have expressed concern over a provincial government initiative to upgrade an 82-kilometer former logging road that runs through the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park, the country’s largest protected area, saying this could destroy wildlife and other natural resources there.

Bishop Joseph Nacua, of the Ilagan diocese, urged the faithful to keep watch over the road project, which will pass through a 28-km reserved area of the park.

“Safeguards must be in place for this project. As we were informed, the project encroaches within a 28-km reserved area, so the project was temporarily halted and the site was assessed so as not to damage the forests. Maybe they saw that it is already okay so they will start it again,” Nacua said.

Last week, the provincial board authorized a geological hazard survey within the park to determine whether the project would affect the forest’s plant and animal life.

Spanning 359,486 hectares, the Sierra Madre was first declared a wilderness reserve by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos on Sept. 7, 1979. It was converted into a natural park in 1997 through Proclamation No. 978 issued by then President Fidel V. Ramos.

The park is haven to Philippine eagles, giant golden-crowned flying foxes, Philippine eagle-owls, Isabela orioles, green sea turtles, loggerhead sea turtles and Philippine crocodiles. It is also home to green-faced parrot finches and the Northern Sierra Madre forest monitor.

On its web site, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said the park “is considered the richest in terms of genetic, species and habitat diversity in the Philippines.”

In 2006, the Sierra Madre protected area was added to the Philippines’ tentative list of potential World Heritage sites.

The old logging road would connect the province to the coastal towns of Maconacon, Palanan and Divilacan. These towns are accessible only by a 30-minute plane ride from Cauayan City in Isabela or Tuguegarao City in Cagayan province, or by an eight-hour boat trip from either Santa Ana town in Cagayan or Baler town in Aurora province.

The provincial government has done an environmental impact assessment of the project, according to government reports.

Built by the former Acme Corp., the log road begins in Sitio Arangay in Ilagan’s Sindon Bayabo village and ends in Dicatian village in Divilacan.

“It is too early to see whether the local government leaders here have self-interest [in mind when they pursued the project] but we have to be watchful always,” Nacua said.

The Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) plans to update the general management plan of the Sierra Madre park from an area requiring strict protection to a special use zone. The road project would downgrade the classification of the 28-km park area that would be affected by the road project. Villamor Visaya Jr., Inquirer Northern Luzon