Philippines a global hotspot for environmental murders
Mesecoy, Philippines: Tata gives hand signals for his men to drop to the rainforest floor as the searing whine of a chainsaw fades, their mission to save a critically endangered piece of paradise in the Philippines suddenly on hold.
Former paramilitary leader Efren “Tata” Balladares has been leading the other flip flopwearing environmental crusaders up and down the steep mountains of Palawan island for the past 15 hours in the hunt for illegal loggers.
One of them is nursing a swollen left arm that was broken a few days earlier when he fell during a reconnaissance trip. He has yet to see a doctor and it is just wrapped in a bandage.
Having slept overnight for just 30 minutes on a forest track, they should be exhausted from the hike.
They could also be forgiven for being frozen with fear: team members have been murdered to stop their operations and others bear scars from the El Nido, Philippines: Environmental activists are being killed in record numbers around the world, with the corruptionplagued Philippines one of the most dangerous countries, according to watchdog Global Witness.
At least 200 community activists, NGO workers and other civilians on the frontlines of protecting the environment were reported murdered worldwide last year, the highest on record, the group said.
In the Philippines, an environmental activist was recorded to have been killed at a rate of every 12 days in 2016, with only Brazil and Colombia having more murders.
As in other hotspot nations, the deaths in the Philippines are rising as communities stand up against corrupt politicians and businessmen intent on securing increasingly scarce natural resources.
“Voracious industries such as mining, agribusiness and logging are trampling over people’s rights to take part in decisions
razored teeth of the chainsaws they seek to confiscate.
But with their targets so close, just a short sprint through ferns and other scrappy lowland rainforest foliage, the adrenaline of the hunt’s imminent climax is surging through them. The chainsaw starts up again after a few minutes, providing the necessary noise to silence their approach.
Tata whispers instructions.
The seven para- enforcers descend like a pack of wolves on the two loggers, who are sawing into the cut- down trunk of an Apitong tree, a critically endangered hardwood that is a favourite among developers in the nearby tourism boom town of El Nido.
As the para- enforcers approach, Tata’s voice roars for the first time all day: “Stop! Stop! Stop! Face down! Face down.” that affect their land and environment,” Billy Kyte, Global Witness environmental and land defenders campaign leader, told AFP.
“Forced into activism, many of these marginalised communities then
receive threats and attacks for defending their rights. The government does little to stop the ensuing violence and rarely holds anyone to account for the killings.”
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s controversial crackdown on
similar to their new foes that indicate mirrored lives of poverty, are stunned and simply stand in bewilderment or fear.
The para- enforcers do not brandish any weapons themselves.
But within a few seconds, Tata and his men disarm the loggers of their machetes, scan the site to ensure there are no hidden rifles or pistols, and seize the chainsaw.
Tata starts asking the loggers questions, using a commanding but nonthreatening tone of a welltrained policeman or soldier. “Do you have a permit for the lumber? Is the chainsaw registered?”
The loggers, squatting on the fallen tree trunk with the para- enforcers holding their shoulders, meekly respond in the negative.
“Ok, this is how it goes. We are the Palawan NGO Network, or PNNI,” Tata says.
“We’re here in the mountains because according to reports, illegal logging is rampant here.”
The para- enforcers give the loggers a receipt documenting drugs, which has seen police and suspected vigilantes kill thousands of people, further highlights the culture of impunity, according to rights groups.
Father- of- five Ruben Arzaga was one of the most recent land defenders murdered in the Philippines when he was shot in the head in September as he tried to approach illegal loggers on Palawan island, a popular tourist destination.
Arzaga was an elected village captain in Palawan’s tourist town
of El Nido, famed for its idyllic beaches and limestone cliffs, and had been trying to confiscate illegally cut timber as part of a personal crusade to stop rampant deforestation.
“If this illegal activity is not stopped, I think before my youngest daughter becomes a young adult and has a family of her own, all the big trees here will be gone,” Arzaga, 49, told AFP in February during another mission to confiscate chainsaws from illegal loggers. the confiscation of the chainsaw and scurry back into the forest, in the remote district of Mesecoy, after an encounter lasting just a few minutes.
Tata appears unflappable during the gruelling mission, showing no fear or hint of fatigue.
The 50- year- old has had a lifetime of conflict to steel him, having led a private militia for a corrupt general before flipping sides two decades ago.
But during a short meal break of rice and dried fish after the confiscation, the stump of a once- giant Apitong behind him, Tata breaks down as he despairs at the corruption that led him to become a civilian para- enforcer.
“This should be the work of the government but they are not doing their job. Who else is going to stop this if we’re not here,” he says. to most of the nation’s remaining forests and its waters are renowned as a global biological hotspot.
With its stunning limestone cliffs, lagoons with turquoise waters and long stretches of untouched beaches, top tourist magazines rate Palawan one of the world’s most beautiful islands.
But it is also a magnet for corrupt businessmen, politicians and security forces seeking to plunder the island’s natural wealth.
With weak or corrupt authorities often unwilling to take on the fight, the Palawan NGO Network Inc, or PNNI, seeks to fill the void.
The group has a strangely corporate name for an anti- establishment band of cash- strapped environmentalists who believe traditional campaigning to save the island’s resources can do little to stop the onslaught of corruption.
Their action.
They use a little- known citizen’s arrest law, plus the support of local communities, to confiscate chainsaws, mining drills, cyanide fishing gear and any other equipment used to destroy Palawan’s environment.
The para- enforcers have confiscated more than 700 chainsaws since PNNI was established nearly two decades ago, according to its founder and leader, environmental lawyer Bobby Chan.
In the small front yard of the group’s headquarters in Puerto Princesa, the capital of Palawan, a Christmas tree made up of more than 100 chainsaws stands two storeys high.
The property’s fences are made up of other chainsaws, and the back yard is scattered with more.
Also crammed in the front yard is a large boat that had been used to transport illegal logs to Malaysia, and two heavy drills the size of lounge room sofas that were confiscated for mining gold.
Home- made rifles and pistols seized from illegal loggers and fishermen hang on the walls inside the small, four- room headquarters. Displaying the confiscated equipment in such an audacious manner sends a message to the powerful that the paraenforcers will not be intimidated, according to Chan. “We want to dispel that idea that nothing can be done for big environmental crimes,” Chan says.