Defensor cancels 8,000 log permits

Environment Secretary Michael Defensor canceled at least 8,000 pending forestry agreements and contracts nationwide yesterday as part of efforts to reorganize the country’s logging industry before he turns over the department to his replacement.

In separate orders, Defensor directed the cancellation of existing and pending applications for so-called industrial forest management agreements (IFMAs), industrial tree plantation lease agreements (ITPLAs), socialized industrial forest management agreements (SIFMAs) and community-based forest management agreements (CBFMAs) in eight regions.

Defensor’s order effectively canceled 3,767 existing forestry contracts. The move also affected the over 5,000 tenurial applications pending with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

The total number of logging agreements that were ordered canceled covers some 2.2 million hectares of forest lands in the Ilocos, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol, Visayas, and CARAGA regions. The remaining regions, meanwhile, have no forestry contracts.

"The tenurial agreements (of the logging companies) were canceled mainly because of non-compliance and violation of the terms and conditions of the agreements by their holders," noted Defensor.

He said the cancellations were a result of a department evaluation of forestry contracts that he had ordered last year.

According to him, some of the holders had failed to submit their so-called comprehensive development and management plan for areas being logged or had failed to comply with the terms and conditions set in their approved plans.

Others, meanwhile, failed to pay rentals and other required fees, he also said.

"I am expecting the regional directors to implement my order within 15 days after they receive it. And if there would be any motion for reconsideration or appeal, those should be forwarded to my office," Defensor said.

He clarified that those forestry contract-holders whose suspensions of timber-harvesting operations have previously lifted will be exempted from the cancellation order.

In December last year, Defensor canceled a total of 276 various forestry contracts.

Asked how the cancellation order would affect the country’s wood industry, Defensor replied, "It would have no effect on the wood industry because these were small- to medium-scale logging operators. The big logging companies were left (alone)."

With the cancellation order, the country now only has three IFMA holders "actively operating." These are in Mindanao.

Rampant logging and poor enforcement of logging laws and regulations have been blamed over the years for the destruction of the country’s steadily diminishing forests.

Defensor, who is taking a leave from his post this week after being appointed as President Arroyo’s chief-of-staff, said his successor at the DENR should be a "manager" with strong political will.

His appointment is expected to be formalized in the next few days.

Defensor said someone who is "sincere and dedicated" should head the department.

"A DENR secretary should be a manager, someone who does not work only on lip service because he has to really implement or enforce (environmental laws and policies). He should have the political will because things have to be done here," he said at a press briefing yesterday.

"He might not necessarily be an environmentalist to be able to serve and do his job as DENR chief but he must be willing to learn, he must study the many aspects and directions of the agency. The DENR is the most complicated agency in government."

Defensor earlier mentioned three DENR undersecretaries who could be named officer-in-charge to temporarily run the agency until his permanent replacement is appointed.

They are DENR Undersecretary for Forestry and Environment Ramon Paje, Undersecretary for Policy and Planning Demetrio Ignacio and Undersecretary for Management and Technical Services Armando de Castro.

Paje is the most senior among the three while De Castro is a long-time Defensor associate.

The final decision, however, rests with the President.

Defensor also said many "interested parties" were already vying for his old post following his disclosure Friday that he would be moving to Malacañang as Mrs. Arroyo’s chief-of-staff.

Malacañang could issue his formal appointment this week.

The Palace has remained mum on who might be offered Defensor’s post.

Defensor’s appointment comes on the heels of a reported Cabinet revamp.

Defensor is the youngest member of the Cabinet and is one of Mrs. Arroyo’s most-trusted advisers. He was one of Mrs. Arroyo’s fiercest defenders when the opposition accused her of cheating in the 2004 polls.

Defensor said he has been already "officially working for the President" as chief of staff despite the absence of a formal appointment.