More Sierra Madre guards fielded amid forester's slay

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines – More forest guards and volunteers have been fielded in the vast northern Sierra Madre forest following last Tuesday’s killing of a female forester in Cagayan.

The deployment of additional forest personnel also came in the wake of reports that illegal cutting of trees is still rampant in Sierra Madre, whose forestlands are threatened by illegal logging and other destructive practices.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) earlier had tagged at least eight towns in Isabela, including Cabagan, Ilagan, Jones, San Guillermo, San Mariano and Tumauini, as well as Maddela and Nagtipunan towns in Quirino as remaining hot spots of illegal logging despite the logging moratorium imposed by President Aquino in 2010.

“We have to protect our remaining forest cover. There are no compromises and exemption in our drive against those who continuously threaten our forests,” said Benjamin Tumaliuan, DENR regional executive director.

One of Tumaliuan’s forest specialists, Melania Dirain, 46, also the deputy chief of the DENR’s community environment and natural resources office in Cagayan’s Sanchez Mira town, was shot dead right inside her office in the evening of Feb. 7.

Tumaliuan has called on authorities to immediately solve Dirain’s killing even as reports indicated that it could be job-related.

The DENR said it has commissioned 84 more forest rangers to safeguard the northern Sierra Madre forest.

Cagayan Valley, especially Isabela, still accounts for at least 500,000 hectares of virgin and second-growth forests despite the entry of logging concessions in the 1960s to the late 1980s, making it one of the country’s biggest remaining forest covers.

Each of the region’s deputized forest guards, according to previous data, only receives a monthly honorarium of P3,000 and has to guard at least 3,000 hectares of forestlands.

“That’s why we are tapping communities, environmentalists and other sectors to help us protect our forests,” said Bernardo Valiente, regional chief of the DENR’s forest protection and law enforcement section.