Post by admin on Aug 8, 2014 8:20:28 GMT 8
Environmentalists, outdoorsmen bare rampant illegal logging at Ipo dam watershed area
Philippine News Agency
August 7, 2014
MALOLOS CITY, Bulacan -- Environmentalists, outdoorsmen and mountaineers on Wednesday appealed to concerned authorities to look into the alleged illegal logging activities along the Ipo dam watershed area.
Bro. Martin Franscisco, chairperson of the Sagip Sierra Madre Environmental Society Inc. (SSMESI), said their group together with members of the University of the Philippines mountaineers and other outdoor groups have documented cases of illegal logging and how the poached timbers are being transported outside of Ipo dam.
He said that the national government should send a team to investigate why timber poaching is still rampant along the watershed of Ipo dam despite pronouncement of officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources that primary forests like those in the watersheds are protected areas.
"The illegal logging activities inside the Ipo dam Watershed is a big blow to the government, particularly DENR that said that no one is allowed to cut down trees on primary forests that are considered as protected areas,” Francisco said.
Fred Ochavo, a volunteer of the University of the Philippines Mountaineers (UPM) that has a reforestation project inside Ipo Watershed, disclosed that several planks of hard wood, believed to have been cut by illegal loggers, were recently monitored to be in the process of being transported out of the watershed.
Ochavo said that the illegal transport of wooden planks that were documented being moved through the river system-- piled beside the docking area for the boats beside a PLDT reforestation site signage; being loaded on a boat; carried by illegal settlers and piled along the road inside the Ipo Dam compound-- were monitored to have taken place inside Ipo Watershed on July 11, 13, 19, 26 and 31 this year.
Michelle delos Reyes, education subcommittee head of UPM environment committee, also bared that she was able to document the illegal transport of the wooden planks on July 11 and 31 as she tries to settle everything that are needed for their upcoming tree planting activity such as quality check of seedlings, tree planting site selection and to instruct UPM's caretaker for hole digging.
Francisco, together with several members of UPM, Sagip Kagubatan and other outdoorsmen, said that they wrote President Benigno Aquino III a letter, dated April 29, 2014 and received by Malacanang Records Office on May 5, 2014.
In the letter, they stated that “As outdoorsmen, we have access to remote areas of Ipo Watershed and stood witness to illegal activities which gravely threatens the continued viability and stability of the water supply of 12 million residents of Metro Manila (2010 Census).”
The letter senders have also submitted sworn statements, documentary evidence and copies of reports and documentation “prepared by their organizations to furnish intelligence and information that may help in the government’s forest protection initiatives.”
They noted that they are “greatly alarmed that despite the existence of a legal framework to impose a total ban on the harvesting of forest products from Ipo Watershed, and despite the country’s commitment to international agreements such as the Millennium Development Goals which seeks to ensure sustainable access to safe drinking water, concerned agencies and officials have not taken concrete steps, and sustained effort to address the destruction of the only viable water source of Metro Manila’s 12 million residents.”
Source: www.interaksyon.com/article/92789/environmentalists-outdoorsmen-bare-rampant-illegal-logging-at-ipo-dam-watershed-area
Philippine News Agency
August 7, 2014
MALOLOS CITY, Bulacan -- Environmentalists, outdoorsmen and mountaineers on Wednesday appealed to concerned authorities to look into the alleged illegal logging activities along the Ipo dam watershed area.
Bro. Martin Franscisco, chairperson of the Sagip Sierra Madre Environmental Society Inc. (SSMESI), said their group together with members of the University of the Philippines mountaineers and other outdoor groups have documented cases of illegal logging and how the poached timbers are being transported outside of Ipo dam.
He said that the national government should send a team to investigate why timber poaching is still rampant along the watershed of Ipo dam despite pronouncement of officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources that primary forests like those in the watersheds are protected areas.
"The illegal logging activities inside the Ipo dam Watershed is a big blow to the government, particularly DENR that said that no one is allowed to cut down trees on primary forests that are considered as protected areas,” Francisco said.
Fred Ochavo, a volunteer of the University of the Philippines Mountaineers (UPM) that has a reforestation project inside Ipo Watershed, disclosed that several planks of hard wood, believed to have been cut by illegal loggers, were recently monitored to be in the process of being transported out of the watershed.
Ochavo said that the illegal transport of wooden planks that were documented being moved through the river system-- piled beside the docking area for the boats beside a PLDT reforestation site signage; being loaded on a boat; carried by illegal settlers and piled along the road inside the Ipo Dam compound-- were monitored to have taken place inside Ipo Watershed on July 11, 13, 19, 26 and 31 this year.
Michelle delos Reyes, education subcommittee head of UPM environment committee, also bared that she was able to document the illegal transport of the wooden planks on July 11 and 31 as she tries to settle everything that are needed for their upcoming tree planting activity such as quality check of seedlings, tree planting site selection and to instruct UPM's caretaker for hole digging.
Francisco, together with several members of UPM, Sagip Kagubatan and other outdoorsmen, said that they wrote President Benigno Aquino III a letter, dated April 29, 2014 and received by Malacanang Records Office on May 5, 2014.
In the letter, they stated that “As outdoorsmen, we have access to remote areas of Ipo Watershed and stood witness to illegal activities which gravely threatens the continued viability and stability of the water supply of 12 million residents of Metro Manila (2010 Census).”
The letter senders have also submitted sworn statements, documentary evidence and copies of reports and documentation “prepared by their organizations to furnish intelligence and information that may help in the government’s forest protection initiatives.”
They noted that they are “greatly alarmed that despite the existence of a legal framework to impose a total ban on the harvesting of forest products from Ipo Watershed, and despite the country’s commitment to international agreements such as the Millennium Development Goals which seeks to ensure sustainable access to safe drinking water, concerned agencies and officials have not taken concrete steps, and sustained effort to address the destruction of the only viable water source of Metro Manila’s 12 million residents.”
Source: www.interaksyon.com/article/92789/environmentalists-outdoorsmen-bare-rampant-illegal-logging-at-ipo-dam-watershed-area