Duterte slams logging ops amid Mindanao flooding
No one should be exempted from the government’s crackdown on logging operations detrimental to the environment.
President Duterte issued this reminder to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) following the severe flooding in some parts of Mindanao largely blamed for rampant logging activities.
"Hindi ba total log ban na tayo? Stop all logging operations with no exemptions," Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol quoted the President telling Environment Secretary Gina Lopez in a recent meeting at the Palace.
“The President issued the order during the en banc meeting of the Climate Change Commission where I brought up the massive floodings in the different river basins of Mindanao resulting from denuded mountains and heavily-silted rivers,” Piñol said in a Facebook post.
Piñol said Lopez admitted that several companies have been given permits to cut down trees as part of the Integrated Forest Management Agreement (IFMA) and the Community-Based Forest Management (CBFM) contracts authorized by the DENR.
The President has also ordered the creation of a new government committee to craft the guidelines on the logging ban.
“The President has ordered that a tripartite convergence committee be formed, composed of DENR, DA (Department of Agriculture) and DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government) to discuss details of a Total Log Ban in order to protect our watersheds,” Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said.
Piñol said the committee has been assigned to “formulate the guidelines in the implementation of a tougher government action against illegal logging.”
The guidelines must be clear on how to treat the cutting of trees planted by farmers in their farmlands for future use, he added.
“The Tri-Partite Committee will meet on Monday, Feb. 6, to formulate the guidelines on the total logging ban ordered by President Duterte and design programs which would ensure the efficient reforestation of the denuded watersheds in the country,” Piñol said.