Rep. Baguilat files bill in Congress to save forests

By Dexter A. See

LAGAWE, Ifugao -- A ‘Sagip Gubat’ bill, which aims to protect, preserve, reforest, properly manage and to properly define a forest area was filed in the House of Representatives by a group of lawmakers including Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat, an advocate for environmental preservation and protection.

Baguilat said the bill could be considered a log ban bill because it the forests would strictly protected from unscrupulous acts of man who ruin the forests for the sake of earning a living.
Baguilat said the bill includes expansion of forest cover wherein the planting will really be an honest to goodness tree reforestation, with the same or original species of forest plants to restore the forest to its original status.

Baguilat said they also want the forests to be defined as eco-system. ”A forest should be a habitat where the dominant species are trees, though it also contains animals, root crops, and people because there are people living in the forest like our katutubo or indigenous people, so that’s the bio diversity approach.”

“The definition of forest today is at least half a hectare of land with at least 10 percent of the area having trees. We can already say that a barren land with 10 percent of its area planted with palm trees is already a forest and this would really affect the policy of the government,” Baguilat added.

As for forest governance, Baguilat cited need for local government units to be involved. “At present it is only the Department of Environment and Natural Resources that is doing this and we all know that they do not have the enough resources and manpower to look after all of our forests,” he said.