Lawmakers are lawbreakers

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March L. Fianza

 BAGUIO CITY -- “Why SM only?” It is the frequently asked question (FAQ) today. Even the lawyer representing the giant mall said in court that his client is being singled out. Thank you for the observation but precisely, he calls our attention to the fact that tree-cutting permits were also issued to others.

            That calls our attention that as we write, trees are being killed for lumber in a private backyard or on a mountain elsewhere, and the DENR is helpless in cases where application for permits are not being filed. That is so because when small people ask the DENR for a permit to cut even just a single tree in their backyard that is standing on the way of a proposed residential development or house extension, this is not granted.

            But for big corporations and housing subdivisions, oh they gladly and quickly issue the permits, consciously forgetting about EO 23 or the total log ban of PNoy. Lucky for them, the price has always been right. The FAQ reflects the impunity of government agencies in issuing permits to big moneyed corporations, even under a supposedly “daangmatuwid” administration.

            It brings me back to an argument raised by former La Trinidad councilor and former Benguet board member William Esteban. He asked why owners of residential lots with Pine trees in it are often denied tree-cutting permits even if such trees were planted and raised by them. And that in applying for permits, forest dues have to be paid. If that crooked rule continues, certainly private residential lot owners who are planning to develop their properties have no other choice but to cut the trees stealthily.

            Their argument is similar to what the Mayor Domogan, DENR Sec. Paje and some Baguio councilors have been saying all along – “private property.” As a remedy to the tree-cutting permit rule, vice mayor Esteban suggested that private backyard tree growers should be given tax rebates for each tree that they raise and should at least benefit from the trees that they plant. In this case, accountability on the part of the private land owner and the DENR is more transparent. And no one has to cut illegally and sneakily at night.

            Dr. Mike Bengwayan, one of the leading personalities and environmentalists in the Save 182 Movement denied singling out SM, saying his non-government environment organization has always been in the forefront in complaining against forest degradation while pushing forward several environmental projects. Many of us also deny singling out SM because people have lodged complaints against illegal logging but these are not acted upon with dispatch by the concerned agency.             The issuance of Townsite Applications in Baguio has also been a culprit in the killing of trees. Aside from the fact that local DENR personnel feel their bosses breathing on their necks and that they were being watched from upstairs, I also understand that most often, and as admitted by friends in DENR, they are helpless in apprehending forest poachers due to the lack of personnel or forest guards and lack of fund support.

            But those were the reasons they have been telling us since the descendants of Lim Ah Hong set foot in Benguet. In other words, seldom do they make arrests before or while the illegal tree-cutting activity is on. Most arrests are done at police checkpoints, after the trees have been cut into lumber sizes, and after “under-the-table” deals have failed.        

            The FAQ suggests that people should also look around other places because permits to cut and earth-ball trees were also issued everywhere by the government agency that is supposed to protect the trees instead of allowing them to be cut. In a list of permits issued by the DENR for Camp John Hay from 2000 to 2010, it showed that out of 1,359 assorted trees of Pine, Agoho, Alnus and other species, around 1,029 were cut while 332 were earth-balled.

            The reasons supporting the issuances were that the trees were affected by road construction and development, the trees were already dead, the trees posed danger to life and property, the trees were infested and that cutting these would stop the spread of Ips infestation. In other parts of the city outside John Hay and PEZA, permits were issued from year 2000 to 2010 for a total of 4,198 assorted trees (mostly Benguet Pine) that were cut and earth-balled. In two instances in 2004 during the watch of DENR Dir. IsaiasBarongan, at least 110 and 69 trees were permitted to be cut.     

            “Why SM only?” It is the FAQ today, especially by people who have put on blinders similar to the ones tied around a horse’s eyes and their alliances who have forgotten the feel of growing up in Pine-clad Cordillera mountains, from eco-warriors up here who are being accused of singling out Luneta Hill in Baguio in their fight for forest maintenance.

            I heard this asked twice during the two “not so clear” public hearings held in the city council and once with a meeting with DENR Usec Demetrio Ignacio. While accepting the fact that trees are a main attraction in Baguio and Benguet, Usec Ignacio who was then connected with the Presidential Management Staff but who now talks like a forester said the earth-balling and tree-cutting permit issued to SM (upon the favorable intercession of a city official) cannot be recalled or withdrawn unless for cause and if the permits are valid.

            I no longer pursued his argument even while I knew that the permits issued were not so clearly valid and even while I could have argued that the sentiments of true-blue Baguio boys toward Benguet Pine trees and his love for them should be enough cause for revoking the permits. It was clear to me that in short USec Ignacio was saying that the DENR cannot do anything with the permits that were issued.

            This absolutely contradicts PNoy’s and the DENR’s National Greening Program (NGP) that seeks to regreen open spaces. This absolutely goes against PNoy’s total log ban under or EO 23. This shows the opposite toPNoy’s “Daangmatuwid.” Let us pray that people will not interpret this as a weak Presidency who gives way to the whims of big moneyed entities. Indeed, lawmakers are lawbreakers. – marchfianza777@yahoo.com