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Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Maxey: Logging ban
By Ram Maxey
Bar None
"Whether PGMA will heed JoeCab's plea remains to be seen. Otherwise, the governor fears a repeat--or worse--of that 2002 devastating flood."
WHEN floods triggered by torrential rains spawned by typhoons devastated the provinces of Aurora, Quezon and Nueva Ecija in Luzon late last year, killing and injuring thousands of people and causing damage to private and public properties in the hundreds of millions of pesos, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (PGMA) had two reactions:
(1) she directed government agencies concerned to embark on a massive rescue and relief operation, and (2) ordered an investigation into who should be blamed for the catastrophe, also called "finger-pointing".
The rescue and relief operations accomplished only so much and no more, considering the enormity of the problem under very trying circumstances.
As for the investigators, they came up with a less than world-shaking announcement: illegal loggers did it.
So much for Malacañang's deep concern for the country's forest cover. Or what's left of it.
No wonder Governor Jose Caballero of Compostela Valley is up in arms against PGMA's recent order lifting the total logging ban in Regions 11 and 13.
JoeCab's province happens to fall within these regions, hence his agitation.
The governor wrote to Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Michael Defensor informing the latter, in case he is as usual misinformed, that during the logging boom in the `50s to `70s ComVal's virgin forests had been subjected to massive concession and commercial logging without the benefit of reforestation.
Result: DENR recent data showed that only 37,361 hectares of the province's forested land remain. That's a staggering mere 12 percent of the original forest stand.
On January 4, 2002, massive floods caused by torrential rains resulted in damage to properties, crops, livestock, fishery resources and government infrastructures worth P134.5 million pesos in Compostela Valley.
Governor Caballero has reason to oppose the President's order. As chief executive of his beloved ComVal, it is his responsibility to see to it that the devastation caused by the flood on April 4, 2002, is not repeated.
Whether PGMA will heed JoeCab's plea remains to be seen. Otherwise, the governor fears a repeat--or worse--of that 2002 devastating flood.
Should that happen, JoeCab could rest assured that the President will immediately: (1) order rescue and relief operations to be mounted and, (2) order an investigation into the whys and wherefores of the tragedy (also called "finger-pointing").
If this were a movie, this is where we came in.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (April 13, 2005 issue)
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