Press Release
August 16, 2007

TOTAL LOG BAN SHOULD BE PART OF RP'S
MASTERPLAN FOR COPING WITH CLIMATE CHANGE

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Nene" Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today called on Congress and Malacañang to make the protection and preservation of the forests a centerpiece of the government's master plan to mitigate the deleterious effects of global warming.

Pimentel urged President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to certify the long-overdue log ban bill as an urgent measure so that Congress can give its approval the highest priority.

Despite the disasters that are caused by the continuing forest destruction like drought, killer floods, soil erosion and landslides, Pimentel bewailed the reported resurgence of illegal logging in the Sierra Madre mountain range, the provinces around Lake Lanao and other critical areas.

He said the return of illegal logging in the Sierra Madre, which was denounced by Catholic Bishops in Quezon province, was in defiance of the "total log ban" policy declared by the President following the catastrophic flashfloods and landslides in Aurora and Northern Quezon in December, 2004 which killed more than a thousand people.

Pimentel has revived his proposal (Senate Bill 275) imposing a ban on commercial logging operations over a period of 25 years - the length of time it takes for hardwood trees to mature. It is also expected that within this period, the country will be able to regain its lost forest cover.

"Unless we implement a total log ban, we will continue to lose more of our already depleted forests. And the horrible tragedies in Aurora-Quezon in 2004, Guinsaugon (Southern Leyte) in 2006 and Ormoc in 1991 due to flashfloods and landslides, are bound to be repeated," he warned.

Aside from flashfloods and landslides during rainy season, Pimentel said the deterioration of watershed areas, depletion of ground water resources, siltation and drying up of rivers and other inland waterways and the shrinking wildlife sanctuaries graphically illustrate the critical state of the country's forests.

In 1900, an estimated 21 million hectares of the country's total land area (30 million hectares) had forest cover. But based on available data, this has declined to 7 million hectares today. However, only about 800,000 hectares of this area consists of old-growth or virgin forests. About 200,000 hectares of forests areas are destroyed annually through legal and illegal logging, as well as slash-and-burn (kaingin) farming, according to the Department Environment and Natural Resources.

Under the Pimentel bill, the cutting of old-growth trees should be strictly prohibited.

Pimentel said the country's wood requirements for construction, paper-making and other purposes will be sourced from industrial tree plantations.

Pimentel said the selective logging policy has proven to be ineffective in protecting the forests because of the common malpractice of loggers to cut trees even in areas not covered by their timber permits and their poor reforestation records.

In Mindanao, he said environmental experts have warned that Lake Lanao - the biggest freshwater lake and main source of power in Mindanao - is in danger of disappearing in 25 years unless the surrounding watershed areas are protected from loggers.

Noting that the water level of Lake Lanao continues to decline, Pimentel said the conservation of the lake is of critical importance due the looming power crisis in the whole of Mindanao. Six hydroelectric power plants of the National Power Corporation depend on the waters of Lake Lanao and its tributary Agus river for generating power.

Despite the urgency of a total log ban to give the forest a much-needed breathing space, Pimentel decried that this legislation has been repeatedly blocked by powerful logging interests since the bill was first proposed in 1987.

"It's about time Congress mustered the political will to approve the log ban bill. We must put the survival of our forests and preservation of ecological balance over and above the selfish economic interests of a privileged few," he said.

Under Senate Bill 275, any violator of the log ban law shall be punished with imprisonment from five years to 10 years. If the violation is committed by a juridical entity, its license or permit to do business in the country shall be automatically revoked. In addition, it shall be slapped a fine of P500,000 to P5 million, at the discretion of the court.

According to the bill, the chairman and/or chief executive or any other officer of the logging company responsible for violation of the law shall be imprisoned for not less than five years but not more than 10 years.

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