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Monday, March 14, 2005
Lumad tribes hold log firm 'accountable'
By Ben Serrano
* Tribes say company violated sacred grounds
Lumad leaders, church, green groups urge Sudecor probe
LANUZA, Surigao del Sur -- Church leaders, non government organizations and lumad residents in barangays Agsam and Mampi who barricaded three trailer of logging trucks loaded by freshly cut logs last March 5, 6 and 7 urged a no-nonsense investigation into alleged continuing violation of forest protection laws by Surigao Development Corp.
This developed even as the cultural communities here convened Sunday members of the jurors of the tribal justice to try the Puyat owned logging firm for alleged blatant violations in the wanton destruction of the Manobo and Mamanwa tribes' sacred grounds such as worship and burial areas.
Church leaders in Surigao del Sur mostly Roman Catholic priests and nuns said the Sudecor-lumad conflict dating back from 1980s is a test case for the present administration's declared pro-environment stance.
They said it will test President Arroyo's political will and determine which side the government will align itself with--either the people's will or vested business interest.
During the logging and mining summit here, Surigao del Sur Bishop Nerio Obchimar issued a pastoral letter opposing destructive logging and mining operations in the province.
He said economic gains derived from these activities outweighs the damage on the ecosystem brought about by floods and toxic waste poisoning to people's lives, livestock and agricultural crops.
But Surigao del Sur officials headed by Governor Vicente Pimentel Jr. debunked the claims made by lumads, church leaders and the environmentalist groups saying modern logging and mining activities provide safety net measures for sustainable mining and logging.
Desecration
Last Saturday anti-logging protesters have accused the Puyat owned log firm for desecrating sacred grounds such as the worship and burial grounds including hunting and fishing areas of indigenous people living within 76,000 hectares of timber concession.
The Manobo-Mamanwa lived along the hinterland of Surigao del Sur since time immemorial. Most of them survived by farming and hunting within their ancestral domain.
Sudecor (Surigao Development Corporation), a Puyat-owned company, was issued a Timber License Agreement (TLA) no. 56-1 covering 76,000 hectares in 1958 and is the only remaining plywood maker in the country producing plywoods and veneers from hardwood species.
When President Arroyo announced during her second official visit to Caraga Region last March 7 at San Luis, Agusan del Sur officially lifting log ban in three regions of the country, she emphasized strict compliance by logging firms to follow forest protection laws while threatening to jail those who violated it.
The Legal Rights Center, an NGO composed of pro-environmentalist lawyers, and Lanuza town Councilor Richard Arreza said they will file formal charges against Sudecor for violating provisions in the Timber License Agreement such as cutting of hardwood tree species within the prohibited watershed areas, tribal burial and hunting grounds that they claimed also desecrated tribal worship areas as manifested in their documentations.
Violations
Councilor Richard Arreza, representative of the Municipal Government of Lanuza to the newly created Tripartite Monitoring Board, told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro they still have to evaluate the results of their ocular inspection at the concession area of Sudecor last Saturday and Friday.
"Personally by what I saw, no doubt there are violations by Sudecor like cutting of tress within watershed areas and blatant disregard by the company in desecrating burial, hunting and tribal worship areas within the timber concession," he said.
"Our only concern now is by what extend these damaging logging operations of Sudecor have caused destruction to the ecosystem and tribal grounds," Arreza said.
The Tripartite Monitoring Board is composed of local government unit, DENR and the private sector representatives to investigate allegations of the indigenous people in the area against logging operations of Sudecor.
Manuel Cardigo or Datu Kajugjug, tribal chieftain of seven tribal communities comprising "Kalasag" Manobo-Mamanwa tribe, said they hold Sudecor responsible in the destruction they made to their ancestral lands.
"These do not only destroy our physical existence but also to culture and traditions threatening our very existence in the lands where we belong and where we came from," he said.
Butch Dagondon, executive director of Green Mindanao, an NGO advocating environment protection and greening Mindanao movement told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro the extent of the environment destruction Sudecor caused by what they saw during the ocular inspection caused anguish and pains to tribal sentiments and their very culture including their self-respect.
"No amount of compensation can bring these back to them," he said.
But Sudecor through their Assistant Chief of Security Group, former Army Captain Ignacio Paje, Jr. denied charges raised by lumads against Sudecor claiming the log firm has been very cooperative with the lumads since it started operations in Surigao del Sur.
"Sudecor had been doing its corporate social responsibilities to the community where it co-exist and there is no any single moment where we reneged that commitment now and in the future," Paje told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro in a separate interview.
(March 14, 2005 issue)
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