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Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Tribes mull raps v. environment officials
By Ben Serrano
Caraga correspondent
PATIN-AY, Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur -- Officials of the Tribal Communities of Caraga Region (Tricom) said they would file charges against regional officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Caraga office.
This is in relation to the disappearance of the 3,150 pieces of lawaan logs measuring a total length of 4,000 meters that are last seen floating at the log pond of Sabang-Gebong Agdawan River near the boundary of Talacogon and La Paz towns in Agusan del Sur.
Tricom officials headed by former DENR official Victoriano Vidal said they would file administrative and criminal charges against the officials.
The logs vanished last October 8, following an ocular inspection by a DENR team and the complaining lumad groups at the site.
The logs whose volume is estimated 1,050 cubic meters at current market price of P5,000 to P6,000 per cubic meter if processed into lumber are reportedly sufficient to make 2,000 houses.
Vidal said the ownership of the lumber remains in question though the lumad groups said these were located at their ancestral domain areas.
"They are not supposedly to process and sell it under DENR rules and regulations. We will let the proper courts to decide on this case especially this involves lumads," said Vidal.
Complaints
Indigenous people groups who took photos of the logs swore these were in Talacogon and La Paz towns but a task force created by the DENR said they were no longer there.
The lumad groups collectively owned ancestral domain claims of 51,000 hectares situated within La Paz town where the lawaan logs came from.
They said they have documented the presence of the logs along with the local Bantay Bayan Foundation Inc. task force in the area.
The Manobo tribesmen said in their sworn statements the logs were cut from their ancestral lands by "enterprising groups" and were then washed away by flashfloods last August 27.
Flashfloods washed away cut logs coming from different forested areas to the different river arteries and the lumber then converged at the Agdawan River.
The DENR, Community Environment and Natural Resources Office of Talocogon, Agusan del Sur headed by then officer Felixberto Orcullo allegedly ordered the seizure of all washed away logs.
In sworn statements signed by the CADC and Community-Based Forest Management Agreement (CBFMA) holders, they claimed that DENR officials allowed the Enrile owned logging firm Casilayan Softwood and Development Corp. to process the logs into finished lumbers even if there are pending complaints of its ownership.
'No logs'
They claimed that under DENR laws, all confiscated logs are to be impounded at the DENR office or any government station then it would be turned over to proper government agencies following rules and procedures of confiscated logs.
But in their affidavits complaint, they alleged that they saw DENR officials supervise the milling of the missing logs at CSDC and the Talacogon Wood Industry (TWI) sawmills in Talacogon town last September 15 to October 25,2005.
The names of the officials are being withheld until their sides are heard on the matter.
The complaint also questioned the legality of the CSDC since the logging and sawmill firm allegedly don't have a logging permit at the delineated ancestral lands in the area where the logs originated.
But in the October 10, 2005 official report by the investigation team created by the provincial DENR office, maintained, "no logs existed during the ocular inspection in the area."
As a result the team recommended the closure of the investigation for "lack of merit."
(November 22, 2005 issue)
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