A VILLAGE official blamed the City Local Environment and Natural Resources Office (Clenro) of Cagayan de Oro on why loggers resort to illegally cut down trees.
Barangay Dansolihon chairman Gilbert Nacalaban has called on Clenro to release to loggers the permits to cut and transport trees the soonest possible to avoid rendering their activities illegal.
Nacalaban said those who plant the trees like falcata, gmelina and mahogany through the Community-Based Forestry Management (CBFM) should also be allowed to cut and bring the logs to processing plants.
“We planted the trees as we were assured by the government this is our livelihood. But how come that when the time comes for us to harvest these, we are not issued the permits?” he said.
Nacalaban is urging Clenro and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to not give the planters, especially the indigenous people, a difficult time to cut logs of these commercially grown trees.
Clenro chief Edwin Dael admitted the process will take time, he told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro by phone, "naa man gud nay process para makakuha tag permit sa DENR. Mga two to three weeks siguro. Makahulat gani tag eight years bag-o makaputol og kahoy kana na nuong three weeks?"
Nacalaban described the process for obtaining permit to cut and transport as tedious since DENR would still have to check the area where the trees to be cut are located before evaluating it.
Other than that, Dael said the rights and title of land and other documents sometimes make a hurdle to obtain permit.
"Ang problema man gud ang uban nagputol nag kahoy unya wa pa nangayo ug permit," he said.
Dael also said there are around 30 truckloads of logs that are stuck in Dansolihon and cannot be transported because of the lack of documents.
Meanwhile, Dael reminded that the logs must fit the declaration of the documents passed to DENR like the hatchet marking, number of logs, place of delivery, plate number of transporting truck, and the type of logs.