DENR probes holders of forest management licenses

To prevent any recurrence of environmental degradation, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has launched an audit on all of the 104 companies that have been granted with Integrated Forest Management Agreements (IFMAs).

Under the IFMA, companies are allowed to establish industrial tree plantations in certain areas but are restricted to cut residual trees unless authorized by the DENR secretary.

On Tuesday, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) suspended the operations of two big companies for alleged violation of their IFMAs after President Rodrigo Duterte blamed them for the flash floods and mudslides that killed dozens of people in Zamboanga Del Norte at the height of Typhoon Vinta.

As this wasn’t enough, Environment Chief Roy Cimatu proceeded to order a review on IFMAs granted to all companies totalling 104.

Cimatu especially cited the need for compliance and performance evaluation of the IFMA sites, including that of the Dacon Group of Companies, whose two companies — the South Davao Development C., Inc. (SODACO) and the Sirawai Plywood & Lumber Corp (SPLC) in Sibuco town — were both ordered to stop operations.

Cimatu said that while several companies have stopped operating, there are reports of

illegal poaching in the IFMA sites.

“We will make them [the IFMA holders] accountable if we find that there were violations in what are supposed to be their obligation to help manage the forest, and not to be the culprit behind such environmental degradation,” Cimatu said.

Of the 104 IFMAs across the country, 40 are in Luzon, 13 in Visayas and 51 in Mindanao. It was also gathered that 10 IFMAs were issued in Region 9 where the flash floods occurred.

Meanwhile, Cimatu gave the 12-member DENR probe team until Friday to complete its investigation of the Dacon areas that were cited as deforested portion of the Zamboanga mountain range that was shown to Duterte.

According to initial reports from the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) in Zamboanga, the frontline unit of DENR, the video of the deforested portion was believed to be the site preparation of SODACO, one of the two firms suspended by Cimatu.

Under the IFMA, the DACON companies were allowed to establish industrial tree plantations in the area, but restricted to cut residual trees unless authorized by the DENR Secretary.