Timber firm appealing to local legislators to endorse forest license
January 16, 2010BusinessWorld
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- Southwood Timber Corp. has asked the Gingoog City Council to reconsider a resolution asking the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to cancel an Integrated Forest Management Agreement (IFMA) granted to the company for 11,476 hectares of forest land.
Company representatives said they were not given ample time to present and defend their case since the city council’s special session was called during the holidays. Moreover, they also argued that they have secured all the requisites for a valid permit to operate in the area covered by IFMA, an instrument that requires the holder to plant trees that could be harvested later within the concession.
A nongovernment group, the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC)-Kasama sa Kalikasan/Friends of the Earth, is questioning the validity of the company’s permit. “The previous IFMA endorsement from the [city council] had been problematic,” said Carl Cesar C. Rebuta, team leader of the LRC regional office based here.
“They included areas that are not within their jurisdiction. Second, the indigenous peoples inMinalwang had refused to allow the company into their land. So, there was a concrete opposition, and yet they say they have a valid [permit]?” Mr. Rebuta said.
LRC and the Ecology Desk of the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro were scheduled to file a petition at the DENR head office in Manila yesterday. The petition, backed by 20,000 signatures of residents of Gingoog and neighboring municipalities, is a parallel effort with the group’s lobby against Southwood Timber’s IFMA before the Gingoog City Council.
The Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro is in full support of the campaign. “The Pope stressed ecological awareness and calls attention to the relationship between the Creator, human beings and the created order in his message for the celebration of the World Day of Peace,” Archbishop Antonio J. Ledesma said. “[The Pope said] the environment must be seen as God’s gift to all people and the use of it entails a shared responsibility for all humanity. However, the recent events in Gingoog are in stark contrast to this,” he added.
“The cutting of trees is still going on as we speak,” LRC’s Mr. Rebuta said. “As long as the resolution has not yet been submitted with the Mayor’s approval, the victory we achieved last month is in danger.
And every day this is prolonged, more trees are cut and more harm is inflicted on the environment.”
http://bworldonline.com/main/
0 comments:
Post a Comment