Caraga folk keen on new DENR chief’s policies

Residents of the Caraga region are watching with keen interest the policy statements of incoming Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Elisea Gozun to put in order what they claimed were "skewed policies" of her predecessor.

In a statement, the Citizen’s Log Watch, a non-government organization monitoring illegal logging in Caraga, urged Gozun to review all integrated forest management agreements and community-based forest management agreements that were "indiscriminately" awarded by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the region.

The group claimed that illegal logging and kaingin (slash-and-burn farming) were encouraged when the DENR carved out 8,100 hectares of forest reserve and recommended the area’s conversion into a mineral reservation.

Subsequent removal of checkpoints installed by Picop Resources Inc. by policemen whom the DENR deputized, allegedly paved the way for the entry of squatters, poachers and illegal loggers, the NGO said.

The group said President Arroyo’s decision to remove Secretary Heherson Alvarez from her Cabinet was a "timely move."