Re-forest we must
THE City of Butuan is blessed with a long history. Located in the northeastern part of Mindanao, where the Agusan River flows out into the sea, it has many centuries of trading with other parts of East Asia behind its being currently the regional capital of the Caraga Region. Based on ancient Chinese records, it was an outpost for exchange of goods from what are now parts of China and Vietnam. The people of Butuan are entitled to a deep sense of historical pride when they say, “Before there was the Philippines, there was already Butuan.” It is that old a human settlement!
After the Philippines became independent in the mid-20th century (1946), Butuan figured prominently as the “Timber City of the South.” Logging concessionaires and forest predators descended upon it and its surrounding areas. It is difficult to imagine another site in the Philippines more devastated than Butuan by the plunder of its forestry resources. Its forest cover was almost totally wiped out, depleted. Environmental degradation set in, along with heavy flooding with almost every heavy rain that falls. Anyone who doubts the vast economic cost imposed by uncontrolled and uninhibited cutting of forest reserves has not looked at the plight of Butuan after the “heydays of abuse” of the 1960s and 1970s.
Some 40 years later, in the early part of this decade (2010s), the people of Butuan had a stark choice: simply curse the darkness that had fallen on their city; or begin to light the course that could lead their city to a new day of economic opportunity. To the eternal credit of its elected officials, led by the city mayor (Mayor Ferdinand Amante), the City of Butuan chose the second alternative. They were going to reforest the city and its surrounding environs; they were determined to build on the industry that had been set up with forestry as a resource base, but this time under a more disciplined, controlled, and sustainable basis. They were not going to throw out processing plants dependent on forestry raw materials; instead, they were resolved to build a local economy that would count on reforested areas to provide the raw materials that can be supplied on a sustainable basis, and in the process enable the economy to grow at much higher rates than in the past, and indeed at higher rates than in many other parts of Mindanao. How is this to be done? The City of Butuan decided to participate in the process that a few other local government units were already undergoing: to adapt the Performance Governance System (PGS) to the specific requirements and ambitions of Butuan. This was in 2013. Moreover, the city was determined to go through the process as quickly as possible so that it can show clear, visible results that would give hope--and pride—to its people.
Within a year after deciding to adapt the PGS, the City of Butuan---despite many difficulties it encountered during the process of doing so---completed the first two phases of the PGS (initiation and compliance). By early 2015, it presented itself for the third phase (proficiency), which it hurdled successfully. This qualified Butuan to vie for the brand, Island of Good Governance, which was then awarded to 5 other LGUs (as well as 7 national government agencies) during APEC week in Manila in November 2015.
This account, from the perspective of those who work in the Institute for Solidarity in Asia (ISA), highlights some of the difficulties the City of Butuan faced as it adapted the PGS to the realities of the City as well as its successful efforts in facing down those difficulties. The achievements of Butuan cannot be downplayed; but they must be viewed against the difficulties it had to solve in order to attain them.