DENR may declare as illegal mere possession of wood from natural forests

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) yesterday warned that it would declare as illegal mere possession of wood coming from trees in natural forests, particularly those lacking proper documents.

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said they are set to check/consume the inventory and those found holding on to logs from the Dipterocarp species will be considered as engaged in illegal activity.

“The mere possession of wood or logs that fall under the said tree species will now be considered illegal unless they have the papers to prove their ownership of the logs or prove that these are imported,” Paje said in a news conference.

Presidential Decree 705 (Forestry Code of the Philippines) metes violators six months up to 20 years imprisonment.

Dipterocarps provide the bulk of what is sold in the market as Philippine mahogany, known to Filipinos by such names as apitong, bagtikan, lauan, tangile, guijo, and yakal, and are often used for making furniture, utility poles, pulp, paper, plywood, and bridges and wharfs.

Last Thursday, President Aquino declared a moratorium on the cutting and harvesting of timber in natural and residual forests and creating the anti-illegal logging task force (Executive Order 23).

Paje said they have already stopped the issuance of 24 Integrated Forest Management Agreements (IFMA), a production sharing contract entered into by and between DENR and a qualified applicant where the latter is granted exclusive right to develop, manage, protect and utilize for a specified period consistent with the principle of sustainable development and in accordance with an approved Comprehensive Development and Management Plan.

In line with the indefinite log ban order of the government, Paje announced that the DENR, in cooperation with other agencies, local government units and the police and military, will conduct massive reforestation efforts.

“I already gave instructions to our officials in the region to check potential sites for this national greening program. Communities in these areas will be encouraged to participate by helping nurture the planted seedlings,” the DENR chief said.

He said 14 million students will be tapped to plant trees, in cooperation with the Department of Education. The DENR aims to plant trees in 1.5 million hectares and some 200 to 250 hectares will be covered per year.

The DENR said the government will be able to save some P1.4 billion yearly given the log production of 801,520 cubic meters annually, and this can only be achieved with the imposition of the ban on harvesting timber in natural forests.

Plantation areas, though, are not covered by the ban.

Lawmakers back P-Noy’s moratorium

• Several congressmen rallied behind President Aquino’s decision to impose a total log ban and urged government agencies to support families of those who would lose their livelihood because of the prohibition.

* Some lawmakers also urged the President to impose a similar ban on mining, even temporarily, to prevent further destruction to the environment and allow measures to repair the damage be implemented.

• “This move will hopefully mitigate flooding in many parts of the country,” Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone said in a statement.

• He said the DENR, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Philippine National Police, and local government units should be firm in implementing the presidential directive.

• He said non-government organizations should also intensify their campaign to save the forests and report scalawags in government and violators of the directive.

• Ang Kasangga party-list Rep. Teodorico Haresco also strongly supported the President’s order and pointed out it is actually cheaper for the country to import wood from Indonesia or Sweden.

• “In the same way that it is cheaper for us to import corn from the US than from Davao, it would be better for our economy and our environment to import wood. We save dollars and import money and save our land and lives from destruction,” Haresco told The STAR. – Paolo Romero