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Sunday, December 12, 2004
Marcos: Congress to pass log ban amid 'threats'
By Albert B. Lacanlale and Marie Neri
SAN FERNANDO -- Representative Ma. Imelda "Imee" R. Marcos said Friday Congress is undaunted by threats and bribe attempts in enacting the "total log ban."
Marcos, a congresswoman of Batac, Ilocos Norte, said after what has happened in Aurora and Quezon - where hundreds have perished due to flashfloods - the lawmakers would "do what is right."
The flashfloods in the two provinces, which claimed hundreds of lives and destroyed millions of pesos worth of properties, was believed to have been worsened by alleged proliferation of illegal logging in the two provinces.
Due to this assumption, Congress is now keen on passing a measure that would effect a nationwide log ban to prevent the occurrence of the same tragedy, which death toll continues to rise as of this writing.
Marcos said since the talks about the log ban has surfaced, Congress had been swamped by feelers from alleged illegal loggers that "money and bullets would rain" upon the House of Representatives to stop lawmakers from passing the bill.
However, Marcos said any "well-meaning" lawmaker would not be affected by such threats as the implementation of a total log ban is long overdue.
Not covered
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, in a news briefing, said the nationwide log ban that President Arroyo imposed applies only to "regular forests" and not to plantations and reforestation projects cultivated or undertaken by certain individuals, groups or business enterprises.
Bunye said, "we have to distinguish between the regular forests and those that are considered plantations," adding that the government is even encouraging forest plantation ventures.
Bunye said when you plant trees, at a certain period, you get to harvest what you plant.
"So, those trees are not considered part of the logging ban," he added.
According to Bunye, tree plantations are provided in the Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP), adding that plantations of certain types of trees are even encouraged.
"It is but logical that those who go into tree plantations can look forward to harvesting the logs at some future time," Bunye said
Damages
On the other hand, the Department of Public Works and Highways would have to spend nearly half a billion pesos to repair roads and bridges in Central Luzon that were damaged by the four typhoons that hit Luzon recently.
Public Works Region 3 Director Ramon Aquino said in his report to Secretary Florante Soriquez that the successive tropical storms, namely, Unding, Violeta, Winnie and Yoyong have destroyed prime infrastructure in Aurora province and parts of Nueva Ecija.
Aquino said in Aurora alone, P478 million is needed to rehabilitate five major roads damaged by the typhoons and these are the Nueva Ecija and Aurora Road, San Luiz Road, Ma. Aurora-Casiguran Road, Gabaldon-Dingalan Road and the Baler-Casiguran Road.
Aquino said apart from the five major roads, national highways in Pampanga and Bulacan were eroded by rampaging floodwaters.
Public Works Region 4 Director Bonifacio Seguit, on the other hand, said his office is conducting intensified clearing operations on national highways of Quezon province.
Seguit said there are nine bridges along the Real-Infanta trail in Quezon that were destroyed and rendered impassable to traffic, thus isolating several town and areas in Real and Infanta.
Seguit said damage to infrastructure wrought by the storms was pegged at P31.5 million.
According to Seguit, clearing operations have reached Tignoan bridge in Real but the restoration of the Agos bridge, which connects the Infanta-General Nakar Roads, would take some time.
Seguit added that two bridges that connect Infanta and Real also collapsed.
Aquino is hopeful that they would complete the rehabilitation and repair of the roads and bridges before the end of the year.
Rescue
Meanwhile, mine workers who pulled four people alive from a building buried in a landslide in the northeastern Philippines ended their search for survivors Saturday, leaving little hope that others would be found.
The 40 miners, who had volunteered to help, stopped digging at the site in Real town after retrieving the remains of people who sought shelter in the two-story building at the height of the Nov. 29 storm.
In what has been described as a miracle, the miners Thursday pulled Maria Tamares, 49, her 3-year-old granddaughter and two 14-year-old boys from the building after hearing their cries for help. They had been buried under debris for 10 days.
"There are no more signs of life," Col. Pablo Amisola, regional military spokesman, said Saturday. "They (rescuers and soldiers) have already reached the ground level and so far only four have been recovered alive."
Philippine soldiers continued digging for bodies and recovered the remains of six people Saturday, Amisola said.
About 100 people had sought shelter at the building in Real, in eastern Quezon province, when the landslide struck.
The storm and a typhoon that struck several days later killed at least 893 people and left 480 missing in the northeastern Philippines. At least 250 died in Real alone.
More than 2.3 million people were affected by the back-to-back tempests, which caused about 3.8 billion pesos in damage, the Office of Civil Defense said.
Amisola said four Philippine navy ships arrived at the port of nearby Infanta town and unloaded 20 tons of food. The ships will carry people who want to leave Infanta and nearby towns, he said.
The Philippines has received relief assistance and donations from countries including the United States, which deployed about 600 US Marines.
Two US CH-46 transport helicopters delivered water to General Nakar town early Saturday. Another pair of CH-46s ferried food and other relief goods to Real when the weather cleared, said Marine Lt. Jasmine Templeton, spokeswoman for the U.S. task force involved in relief assistance.(With AP)
(December 12, 2004 issue)
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