Of trees, greening and displacement of farmers

BEHIND THE SCENES

Alfred P. Dizon

BUGUIAS, Benguet – Last week, a farm laborer was hit by a falling log at early morning and was killed here on the spot along a creek in Barangay Calamagan.

Police identified the victim as Marvin Yere Basada, 32, of Masi-ilsi-il, Uminggan, Pangasinan.Police investigation disclosed a group of persons led by a certain Barangay Kagawad Lumbag cut down a pine tree then rolled it below the creek. Accidentally, the pine log hit the victim who was then gathering firewood at the creek. The group of a certain Darwin E. Damoking disclosed they never noticed the presence of the victim at the creek since he never asked permission or informed the group that he will go down the creek. The victim was brought to Lutheran Hospital here in Barangay Abatan, but was declared dead on arrival by the attending physician.

His remains lies were later brought home to their residence in Pangasinan by his sister Lani B. Batonan together with barangay officials of the place. 

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Now the question being asked by locals is who should be blamed for the death of Basada. Is it the barangay captain for leading the cutting of the tree which rolled down the mountain fatally hitting the victim? Or is it because of lax implementation of government laws like the total log ban? A pundit said maybe the tree should be blamed for growing in the area. And yes, somebody said maybe even the mayor could be liable for not looking after the welfare of his constituents by not being strict on cutting of trees.

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The Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Cordillera is supposed to head efforts in preserving the environment against cutting of trees. The DENR may have been undermanned in the area that they failed to notice the barangay chief lead in cutting the tree. Will charges be filed against him and his cohorts for illegal logging?,a local pundit asked

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Be that as it may, the DENR Cordillera Administrative Region is close to achieving its 2015 National Greening Program (NGP) target making it the best performer across the country.  This is based on recent report of the national coordinator of the NGP, Director Ricardo Calderon from the Forest Management Bureau of the DENR.

As of Sept. 14, the region, under all components of the NGP, accomplished 89% or has covered 15,786 of its 17,746 target areas with a total of 9,311,990 seedlings planted.

Under the regular NGP which is funded in accordance with the National Expenditure Program (NEP), the DENR-CAR planted an aggregate area of 13,568 hectares of land or 92.56% of its target which is 14,658 hectares.

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Abra is the best performer this year with 99% accomplishment rate which translates to7,259 hectares already planted with various species of seedlings out of its 7,332 hectare target.  Meanwhile, other provinces are also on track with more than 80% accomplishment rates.

The targets for the other provinces are as follows: 2,959 hectares for Benguet; 1,349 hectares for Apayao; 1,210 hectares for Kalinga; 951 hectares for Mountain Province; and 857 hectares for Ifugao.

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Benguet accomplished 2,632 hectares or 88.95%; Apayao planted 1,177 hectares or 87.25%; Mt. Province covered 821 hectares or 86.33%; Ifugao planted areas covering 700 hectares or 81.68%; and Kalinga achieved 979 hectares or 80.91%.

In addition, 2,219 hectares of plantations have already been planted with different tree species in provinces of Abra, Kalinga, and Mt. Province under the supplemental or mechanized NGP which is funded under the DENR-Central Office-based fund. 

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As many as 7,093,125 seedlings of various tree species have been planted in the different NGP sites by the DENR-CAR regional and field offices and other partner government agencies, non-government and peoples’ organizations.

This year, the region has also produced 7,984,574 seedlings under the regular NGP and additional 2,218,865 seedlings under the supplemental NGP.

Since NGP’s inception in 2011, a total of 74,574 hectares hads already been planted in the Cordillera or 98.75% of its target of 75,521 hectares.  The high percentage is attributed to the 100%, or even more, accomplishment rates in the region for the past four years.

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Come now critics of the NGP who are saying it is a “curse to communities.”

“Umay dagiti DENR, ipapilit da nga agmula kami iti kayew kadagiti namulaan mi itisaba, mais, pagay ken dadduma pay nga kayew nga ag bungbunga iti prutas. Kalpasanna ket maideklara a bagiti DENR ti daga.Awan mabalin mi gapu ta awan titulo mi. Kasano kami ngay nga agnanaed kadagiti masakupan ti NGP Projects, awan papanan mi a dadduma.Agbisin dagiti pamilya mi.” (The DENR came and forced us to plant trees within our banana, rice, corn fields and other fruit-bearing trees. After planting the seedlings, DENR declared that the land is theirs. We cannot do anything because we do not have titles. As people living in NGP-project areas we are deeply concerned, we have nowhere to go. Our families will go hungry), said Manong Delfin of Lingbanan, San Pablo, Isabela.

According to militant environmentalists, the statement of Manong Delfin says it all. More than reforestation, they said, the NGPposes threats of displacement of communities and land grabbing from peasant farmers. This is the situation in all the affected communities of Isabela because of the NGP, according to cause oriented groups there.

Particularly in the mountain communities of San Pablo, Isabela, small peasant farmers are reportedly in dilemma since DENR introduced NGP in their area in 2011. Most of the peasant farmers are also indigenous people’s settlers coming from the Cordillera region, said Samuel Anongos, regional coordinator-Cordillera of Sulong Katribu Party list.

ManongDelfin who is an Ayangan from Ifugao, said they migrated in Lingbanan, San Pablo in 1990. Since then, they developed the area with agriculture. Along with his neighbors, they planted bananas, rice, root crops and fruit-bearing trees to support their families.

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Since 2011 when the NGP was implemented, Manong Delfin and his village were informed by the DENR-Isabela that their community was located in a forest zone. Because of this, the farmers cannot get titles for their lands. But even with this, Manong Delfin and his village registered strong opposition to the NGP plan. According them, once trees are planted in their corn, rice and banana fields, DENR can claim ownership to the planted areas. They also accused the DENR of hiring armed men and people from other communities to plant seedlings in their area.

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But what is alarming, Anongos said, is that when Manong Delfin along with their community brought their issue to local government units and concerned agencies, they claimed that no single assistance was given to them. Manong Delfin also admitted that they cannot hire lawyers to help them in their case because they have no resources.

They attended the Punganay Cagayan Valley, a gathering of indigenous peoples and advocates in Ilagan, Isabela on the second week of September. During the gathering, they said they also heard similar problems in other municipalities of Isabela related to the NGP. With the same problem, Manong Delfin and other affected communities vowed to strengthen their unity to advance their campaign against NGP and related peasant issues.

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Anongos said Sulong Katribu Party list is one with peasant farmers in San Pablo in their campaign to defend the land they till. “Sulong Katribu values more the lives of the people rather than a program like NGP that displaces people from their source of existence. Sulong Katribu strongly believes that programs such as reforestation should be based on people’s participation and not just dictated for the sake of spending people’s money.”