DTI asks DENR to lift log ban in some areas in CV

The Department of Trade and Industry is asking the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to lift the log ban in some areas of the region because it affects the local furniture industry.

DTI regional director Asteria Caberte said that furniture exporters in Cebu have been affected by the lack of woods for their products.

With this, the agency and some furniture exporters are asking the DENR to lift the log ban in some areas in the region such as Negros and Bohol, where there are ample trees for furniture.

During their meeting with the CFIF and DENR few days ago, she said that they have come up with a resolution asking the DENR to allow the furniture sector to get raw materials from Bohol and Negros.

During the meeting of the Regional Development Council held in Tagbilaran City over the weekend, Caberte said that they found out that DENR has banned the cutting of gmelina, mahogany, and their likes in the region. With this, she said that the environment department could exempt other minor forest products that could be used for furniture.

She said that Bohol and Negros have enough supply of wood for the local exporters. The furniture sector needs over 60 million board feet of wood a month.

However, another problem was the lack of facilities by the local furniture makers.

"Cebu traders have a very big role because they have the facilities. That's why we have to inform them of the sources," Caberte said, adding that only Cebu-based traders have facilities that could process raw materials.

"All we have to do is link the growers to the furniture sector. Bohol has already a good channel to Cebu except Negros," she said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo stopped all logging operations in the country last December 8 following the flashfloods and landslides that killed hundreds of people in eastern Luzon, mostly in Aurora and Quezon provinces. The landslides were blamed on rampant illegal logging in the Sierra Madre, the country's longest mountain range.

However, three months later, DENR lifted the log ban in Regions 9, 11 and Caraga to meet the country's local wood requirement of three million cubic meters a year.

DENR Secretary Michael Defensor explained that the government could no longer maintain the total log ban because the law provides for selective logging in the Philippines.