Angara defends self, total log ban
Angara defends self, total log ban
Updated 06:37am (Mla time) Dec 15, 2004
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the December 15, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
I BELIEVE there is a concerted effort to put down Sen. Edgardo Angara by his enemies, and the recent floods and landslides in his home province of Aurora and neighboring Quezon presented an opportunity to do that. Every day I receive text messages from unknown sources attacking Angara, blaming him for the tragedy that befell the two provinces because his family, so the messages said, is either into logging or coddling loggers. My media colleagues received similar messages.
Angara, who was the lone guest in last Monday's Kapihan sa Manila (Hotel), said he knew who his attackers were but declined, out of “delicadeza,” to name them. He denied being a logger or sponsoring any logging company. He admitted that he knew one of the logging concessionaires in Aurora but that was because they were fraternity brothers in the University of the Philippines. But he never sponsored nor coddled the logger, he said.
Neither did a priest say Angara was benefiting from the logging business nor did Ka Roger say that he was behind the logging operations in Aurora, he said. He related how the stories to that effect came out in the media.
He said the priest wrote him a letter denying the things attributed to him by the media. A reporter had asked the priest if he thought somebody was benefiting from the illegal logging operations in Aurora, and the priest's answer was, "It's possible."
This was interpreted in media that the Angara family, because it is the political kingpin in Aurora, was benefiting from the logging operations. As for Ka Roger, he said he only got his information from what that priest said.
That part of the misunderstanding has been clarified several times, but why do the text messages repeating the wrong accusations continue?
Angara told the Kapihan that 70 percent of Aurora and Quezon are still covered with forests. The landslides occurred in only one town in Aurora (Dingalan) and three in adjacent Quezon (Real, Infanta and Nakar). It was the extremely huge amount of rainfall that soaked the mountainsides and loosened the soil which triggered the floods and landslides. Many of those who perished had erected their houses on a dry riverbed. When torrents filled the river, the homes and the people sleeping in them were washed away.
Contrary to what the propaganda against him claims, Angara said, he is not a logger coddler. He is in favor of a total log ban. Records will show that during the two times that a total log ban was voted upon in the Senate, he voted for it. Had the House of Representatives not reject its own log ban bill, we would have had a total log ban now, he said. He would again vote for a total ban when a new bill comes along.
The opposition senator said he had not asked the administration for a Cabinet position. While admitting that he and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo indeed had a meeting, he denied accepting membership in her Cabinet. He said he would rather stay in the Senate. He wants to finish his third term and be the longest-serving senator.
* * *
Angara criticized government forest policies. Private tree plantations are good, he said, but placing them beside public forests is bad. The plantation owners illegally poach on the public forests so they have an income while waiting for their own trees to mature.
Another faulty forest policy is the so-called "community-based forest management," which leaves it to the community to manage the forest near it, on the theory that it knows best what to do with its forest. This has been proven disastrous in Real, Infanta, Nakar and Dingalan. Their residents admitted that they had illegally cut trees for lumber, for firewood and charcoal, and for selling to gardeners for landscaping purposes. That is their only means of livelihood, they said. But many of them and their neighbors lost their lives because of it. They should have known better but did not.
Even with a total log ban, the illegal cutting of trees will continue as long as there is a big demand for the forest products. Like I said in a previous column, the Philippine construction industry is very wasteful in the use of wood. A policy that would wean the industry away from wood should be put in place. Many other countries, like the United States, are already doing that, using substitutes that are cheaper and more durable in place of wood.
With the rising cost of liquefied petroleum gas, many people are going back to firewood even in the urban areas. And the hundreds of thousands of barbecue stands and “ihaw-ihaw” restaurants all over the country have created a big demand for charcoal.
All these demands can be satisfied without denuding our forests, however. In the first place, we will earn more money if we preserve our forests rather than cut them. Because of dwindling wild places in the world, tourists troop to countries that still have them.
The provinces of Quezon and Aurora, although named after the first president of the Philippine Commonwealth and his first lady, are among the most undeveloped in the country because of their remoteness. But they are also among the most beautiful, with a narrow plain sandwiched between the Sierra Madre Mountains and wide sand beaches and the sea. There are many waterfalls and lakes in the mountains and islets and magnificent coral reefs in the blue sea. These are what tourists are looking for, since there are pitifully few of them left in the world.
Instead of cutting the forests for livelihood, the residents will get jobs from tourists attracted by the standing forests.
(To be continued)
Updated 06:37am (Mla time) Dec 15, 2004
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the December 15, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
I BELIEVE there is a concerted effort to put down Sen. Edgardo Angara by his enemies, and the recent floods and landslides in his home province of Aurora and neighboring Quezon presented an opportunity to do that. Every day I receive text messages from unknown sources attacking Angara, blaming him for the tragedy that befell the two provinces because his family, so the messages said, is either into logging or coddling loggers. My media colleagues received similar messages.
Angara, who was the lone guest in last Monday's Kapihan sa Manila (Hotel), said he knew who his attackers were but declined, out of “delicadeza,” to name them. He denied being a logger or sponsoring any logging company. He admitted that he knew one of the logging concessionaires in Aurora but that was because they were fraternity brothers in the University of the Philippines. But he never sponsored nor coddled the logger, he said.
Neither did a priest say Angara was benefiting from the logging business nor did Ka Roger say that he was behind the logging operations in Aurora, he said. He related how the stories to that effect came out in the media.
He said the priest wrote him a letter denying the things attributed to him by the media. A reporter had asked the priest if he thought somebody was benefiting from the illegal logging operations in Aurora, and the priest's answer was, "It's possible."
This was interpreted in media that the Angara family, because it is the political kingpin in Aurora, was benefiting from the logging operations. As for Ka Roger, he said he only got his information from what that priest said.
That part of the misunderstanding has been clarified several times, but why do the text messages repeating the wrong accusations continue?
Angara told the Kapihan that 70 percent of Aurora and Quezon are still covered with forests. The landslides occurred in only one town in Aurora (Dingalan) and three in adjacent Quezon (Real, Infanta and Nakar). It was the extremely huge amount of rainfall that soaked the mountainsides and loosened the soil which triggered the floods and landslides. Many of those who perished had erected their houses on a dry riverbed. When torrents filled the river, the homes and the people sleeping in them were washed away.
Contrary to what the propaganda against him claims, Angara said, he is not a logger coddler. He is in favor of a total log ban. Records will show that during the two times that a total log ban was voted upon in the Senate, he voted for it. Had the House of Representatives not reject its own log ban bill, we would have had a total log ban now, he said. He would again vote for a total ban when a new bill comes along.
The opposition senator said he had not asked the administration for a Cabinet position. While admitting that he and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo indeed had a meeting, he denied accepting membership in her Cabinet. He said he would rather stay in the Senate. He wants to finish his third term and be the longest-serving senator.
* * *
Angara criticized government forest policies. Private tree plantations are good, he said, but placing them beside public forests is bad. The plantation owners illegally poach on the public forests so they have an income while waiting for their own trees to mature.
Another faulty forest policy is the so-called "community-based forest management," which leaves it to the community to manage the forest near it, on the theory that it knows best what to do with its forest. This has been proven disastrous in Real, Infanta, Nakar and Dingalan. Their residents admitted that they had illegally cut trees for lumber, for firewood and charcoal, and for selling to gardeners for landscaping purposes. That is their only means of livelihood, they said. But many of them and their neighbors lost their lives because of it. They should have known better but did not.
Even with a total log ban, the illegal cutting of trees will continue as long as there is a big demand for the forest products. Like I said in a previous column, the Philippine construction industry is very wasteful in the use of wood. A policy that would wean the industry away from wood should be put in place. Many other countries, like the United States, are already doing that, using substitutes that are cheaper and more durable in place of wood.
With the rising cost of liquefied petroleum gas, many people are going back to firewood even in the urban areas. And the hundreds of thousands of barbecue stands and “ihaw-ihaw” restaurants all over the country have created a big demand for charcoal.
All these demands can be satisfied without denuding our forests, however. In the first place, we will earn more money if we preserve our forests rather than cut them. Because of dwindling wild places in the world, tourists troop to countries that still have them.
The provinces of Quezon and Aurora, although named after the first president of the Philippine Commonwealth and his first lady, are among the most undeveloped in the country because of their remoteness. But they are also among the most beautiful, with a narrow plain sandwiched between the Sierra Madre Mountains and wide sand beaches and the sea. There are many waterfalls and lakes in the mountains and islets and magnificent coral reefs in the blue sea. These are what tourists are looking for, since there are pitifully few of them left in the world.
Instead of cutting the forests for livelihood, the residents will get jobs from tourists attracted by the standing forests.
(To be continued)
posted by Dante at 6:37 AM
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