MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/24 May) – Environment Secretary Ramon Paje has directed the Bukidnon Forest, Inc. (BFI) management to stop its tree harvesting operations effective this month, but BFI general manager Reynaldo Abordo insists it does not mean they have to stop cutting immediately as they are still allowed to cut 7,000 cubic meters worth of wood in the next three months to honor previous contractual obligations.
Paje, who also chairs the board of directors of BFI, ordered the stop “until further notice,” according to Abordo. The order was reportedly pursuant to the instruction of President Benigno Aquino III, who earlier ordered a total log ban in the country and launched a National Greening Program.
The BFI manager told the Bukidnon Sangguniang Panlalawigan about the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ (DENR) order Wednesday during a hearing on a supply contract between BFI and Chinese-owned Luda Chemicals, Inc. (LCI) to tap resin from Malaybalay pine tree plantations inside the 38,000-hectare plantation area.
Abordo said the order was a result of the May 17 meeting of the BFI board in Quezon City. The board also ordered BFI management to “establish around 8,000 hectares of forest plantation inside the BFI area of responsibility this year.
BFI, previously the Bukidnon Industrial Tree Plantation Project (BIPP), obtained a 25-year BFI Industrial Forest Management Agreement, due to expire in 2016. BFI is a government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) under the National Resources Development Corporation. As BIPP, it was funded by the national government of New Zealand until it was terminated as a foreign-assisted project of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in 1998.
Abordo clarified to MindaNews that the “effectivity” of Paje’s order does not really mean immediate stop of cutting. He said they are still allowed to cut until August to comply with their previous contractual obligations amounting to 7,000 cubic meters worth of wood.
Felix Mirasol, DENR-Bukidnon chief, admits this is still a huge volume, which translates to 389 truck loads worth of timber.
Abordo told the provincial board they already had customers who deposited payments for orders previously made.
He said there is no sign DENR’s order to stop cutting is permanent but he said the experimental deal with Luda Chemicals is a transition to BFI’s alternative source of income.
The supply contract drew the ire of provincial board members over reports that the tapping of pine trees’ resin or sap like those done on rubber trees could lead to early aging and result in pine trees being cut earlier than its lifespan of 50 years.
Huang Ming Xing, a resource person from LCI, said in a PowerPoint presentation that extraction is not harmful to pine trees.
Mirasol pointed out that the danger is in overtapping, so the extraction has to be done by skilled workers.
Last January, Vice Gov. Jose Ma. R. Zubiri Jr. said BFI must be asked to stop operating ahead of the expiration of its 25-year industrial forest management agreement (IFMA) in 2016.
He cited BFI in his speech during a convocation program in January where he reacted to accusations that massive deforestation in Bukidnon should be blamed for the flashfloods brought by tropical storm Sendong that hit the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan in December.
Zubiri cited that there are no illegal loggers in the province. But he said instead there is “legal logging” with BFI allegedly as the biggest operator. He said the firm is cutting more trees than it is planting. He added in an interview that only one portion of the 38,000 hectares had been reforested, referring to only 6,000 hectares in Manolo Fortich.
He wanted the government to shorten the IFMA by four years because the BFI was unsuccessful.
Zubiri said the 38,000-hectare industrial tree plantation project’s area should instead be given to the indigenous people who have applied for Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title over it.
Abordo admitted to MindaNews then that they were able to reforest only 7,000 hectares, not 6,000 as Zubiri said. But he denied they were unsuccessful in reforestation.
Edwin Okit, BFI operations chief, said only 18,000 hectares of the area can be reforested and they were able to reforest 13,000 hectares since the 1990s. But he blamed an interplay of factors, including forest fires, that their output was cut to 7,000 hectares.
Abordo also denied they were cutting more trees. He added they were able to reforest 700 hectares in 2011 but logged only 150 hectares, or equivalent of 30,000 cubic meters of lumber.
He said the DENR is extending about P16 million this year, the first time since 1998, to augment funds for reforestation. He said it will be used to reforest 1,000 hectares with a different forest tree species and additional 1,000 hectares for coffee plantation with the indigenous peoples.
He also admitted that BFI was not prepared to operate in the long run when it was transferred under the NRDC because they did not have complete equipment. He said this is one reason their operations in the past have lagged compared to their targets.
They targetted sales of P200 million for 2011, but attained only P40 million, Abordo admitted.
But he said they are optimistic they can recover with the help of the DENR and the prospects of buyers this year.
Abordo said they will definitely apply for renewal of the 25-year IFMA in 2016.
“This is the government’s only showcase of industrial tree plantation. We are confident of the interest of the government to renew it,” he added.
He said they will include in their negotiation the share and role of the indigenous peoples claiming the plantation area as their ancestral domain.
But an officer at the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) in Bukidnon said BFI would need to obtain a free and prior consent with the indigenous cultural communities in the area, which they were not able to do back in 1989 when the project was started during the administration of the late President Corazon Aquino. (Walter I. Balane / MindaNews)