MORE NEWS, BENGUET

Benguet execs denounce entry of imported carrots in country
BY DEXTER A SEE

ATOK, Benguet — Officials of this vegetable-producing province denounced the reported entry of imported carrots despite the repeated assurance of Agriculture officials these are free from pests and diseases that could be detrimental to the local vegetable industry.

The entry in the country of imported carrots from China is guaranteed through the controversial Pest Risk Analysis (PRA) which has been opposed by stakeholders of the agriculture industry who said importation could result in the collapse of the vegetable industry in the province.

Atok Mayor Concepcion Balao said municipal officials and farmers will continue their opposition to the entry of Chinese agricultural products to the country even if the Bureau of Plant Industry completed its questionable PRA on carrots.

It was learned the PRA is a sanitary requirement asked from a foreign country intending to export its products to another country.

The process involves determination of presence of pests and diseases in the commodity which could be detrimental to the country of destination.

The BPI had found the presence of 12 pests and diseases in the Chinese carrots not found in locally grown carrots.

Despite BPI’s assurance the chance of the entry of the pests and diseases to the country is low, Balao said municipal officials and farmers are not convinced by such guarantee because the safety of imported carrots when due to diseases is highly doubtful.

She said if the national government is really protecting the interest of local farmers, the concerned agencies must be the first to oppose the entry of the imported agricultural products that directly compete with locally produced vegetables.

In the case that imported carrots and other vegetables are allowed free entry to the local markets, the lady mayor said, thousands of farmers in Benguet would surely suffer "double jeopardy" because aside from going bankrupt, they would also lose their source of livelihood.

Balao said she is wondering why some government agencies are desperate in pushing for the entry of imported vegetables in the country when the local supply is enough for the country’s vegetable demand.

Vegetable farming has been one of the primary sources of income of thousands of individuals in the province over the past several decades.

Earlier, various farmers groups expressed their vehement opposition to the approval of PRA on carrots and other vegetables from China, but it seems that some concerned government agencies are trying their best efforts to flood the country with imported agricultural commodities that compete directly with local farm products.

They alleged the PRA on carrots reportedly was done in the commercial farms in China, and not in the agricultural lands in rural areas which could be the possible sources of the carrots that would be brought to the country.


Kayapa assessor linked by self-confessed squatters: Travelers see unabated, illegal logging in Bobok

BOKOD, Benguet -- Illegal cutting of trees and timber poaching in the barangays of Bobok and Pito in Bokod, and in some forested areas along the Vizcaya road to Kayapa is rampant. The information is not new to residents here, according to a group of businessmen who frequent this route.

“Cutting of pine trees in this vicinity is uncontrolled, unchecked and known to the public,” said the group who verbally told The Northern Philippine Times of what they noticed in the forested area that was then maintained by the Benguet Corporation.

Alejo Bestog, Marcial Mangigil and Val Killan were enroute to Vizcaya last December when they accidentally found freshly sewn Pine lumbers hidden inside two make-shift shacks made of Pine slabs. Upon returning to Baguio City via the same route, Killan and Mangigil said they casually talked to passers-by and by-standers if they knew the persons who owned the illegally-cut Pine lumbers.

Apparently, they were denied information which prompted them to narrate their story to the NPT. A visit to the area with Killan’s group was scheduled thereafter. On site, the group chanced upon one Carlos Sinakay who admitted to stashing the illegally cut Pinewood in one of the make-shift shacks that he constructed upon the instructions of Sising and Jerome Velasco. The latter is presently the municipal assessor of Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya.

Sinakay who was caught red-handed in the act of loading sand from the stockpile of the Satrap Construction firm at Pacac, Bobok said he worked as a driver of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples in Bayombong. He said he was allowed to hide away the illegally-cut Pine lumber in an abandoned Pinewood shack in exchange for his efforts in helping the couple plant coffee seedlings in the area.

Sinakay was informed by the traveling businessmen that the government confiscates all other forms of contraband such as prohibited drugs, including Pinewood products that were cut with no permits, no matter who owned it and whether it was found in a private or public land. He said he understood the consequences of his acts and in a courteous way, promised to voluntarily dismantle the shack and remove the illegal lumber within the week. Sinakay, however, did not fulfill his word.

On December 27 or two weeks later, Bokod police were dispatched to retrieve the illegal lumber with an Elf truck provided by Mayor Mauricio Macay. But the police, empty handed, returned in the company of one Ruben Ventura instead. Ventura practically issued the same statements made by Sinakay.

He affirmed in the presence of PSInsp. Cesar M. Molitas, that the Pinewood lumbers hidden in two abandoned Pinewood shacks were “owned by Sising.” Chapter IV, Section 80 of PD705 in part states that “a forest officer shall arrest even without warrant any person who has committed any offenses in this chapter… seize and confiscate in favor of the government the tools and equipment used in committing the offense, and the forest products cut, gathered or taken by the offender…”

“The arresting officer shall thereafter deliver within six hours from the time of the arrest and seizure, the offender and the confiscated products, tools and equipment to, and file the proper complaint with, the appropriate official designated by law to conduct preliminary investigations and file information in court.” These provisions of the law have not been fulfilled for other reasons known only to the officers of the agency concerned and the forest ranger assigned in the area.

Mayor Macay and PSInsp. Molitas who were a bit surprised, said all illegal lumbers must be confiscated regardless of who the owners are in order that people get rid of the notion that the government, especially officials and agents of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, are “selective in the campaign against illegal loggers.”

In the course of discussions, a representative of a Bobok land claimant said DENR agents and officials are afraid of filing cases against offenders. Mangigil also wondered why there were neither DENR ranger stations nor police outposts in the Bobok area where illegal loggers cut trees with no restraint.