Special
Report by Muhammad d Salahuddin
February 17, 2012-
A press conference with the theme: “TRUTH ABOUT LIES: LANAO
PERSPECTIVE ON THE DESTRUCTION BROUGHT BY SENDONG” was successfully held at Brewberry
Cafe ,Divisoria, Cagayan De Oro City. The event is in response to the
allegation of local government officials
particularly Mayor Vicente ‘Dongkoy’
Emano of Cagayan de Oro City and Mayor Lawrence Cruz of Iligan City, National Government
and some members of the media that logging in Lanao is to be blamed for the
destruction brought by Typhoon Sendong last September 16-17, 2011.
Typhoon Sendong
(international name ‘Washi’) was
the deadliest natural disaster that hit the
Philippines in 2011; it affected about
30 thousand families and thousands perished
in that tragedy.
“Sendong was a tropical storm, a natural disaster. Whatever came
its way would have been washed away, be they houses, cars or even trees. How come it is being blamed on us?” asked
Engr. Pipalawan O. Naga an environmental activist for more than 20 years based
in Lanao del Sur.
Engr. Naga also belied the claim that the logs that killed many in
some parts of Iligan City was stockpiled in Kapai, Lanao del Sur. “It may be
true that the logs were cut illegally from Lanao, but it is possible and it is
our claim that prior to December 16,2011 the logs were already stockpiled in
Iligan City. We
challenge anybody to present evidence that Lanao is to be blamed for the destruction brought by Sendong.”
An article published at Inquirer.net
last
December 31,2011 said
that the task force created by ARMM-OIC Mujiv Hataman reported that VicMar, a
Makati based logging firm, had been stockpiling timber in its log pond in the
Kapai-Bayug river (ILIGAN) junction before processing these in its sawmill in
Barangay Hinaplanon in Iligan City, which is along the Mandulog River.
“So after the logs were stocked at the log pond,
these logs will be naturally drifted away to Iligan City through the Mandulog
River,” the task force said.
“Only VicMar has been in operation in the area
since 1975,” the task force further said.
VicMar, the task force said, got a Timber
License Agreement for 18,730 hectares of forests in Kapai and Tagoloan II on
Nov. 27, 1975. It expired on June 30, 1997, but VicMar applied for an IFMA. The IFMA, issued on March 25, 1996, reduced VicMar’s area of
operations to 6,795 hectares. and would expire on March 24, 2021.
Vicmar’s known owner is
Vicente L. Angliongto, former president
of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce.
It was learned that Vicente L. Angliongto accompanied the late former president
Cory Aquino, mother of now President Noynoy Aquino, in her first visit to
United States of America in 1987. “We have the suspicion that the owner of said
firm holds a special relationship with the Aquino family and this may be the
reason why until now no case had been filed against them,” said Drieza A. Lininding of BMYM.
Mr. Lininding also chided Mayor Vicente Emano of Cagayan de Oro for
blaming logging in Lanao for the destruction suffered by his city. ” We really
don’t see the connection of Lanao to CdO (referring to the drainage map
presented by Engr.PIP NAGA earlier in the conference)”.
The organizers of the said conference advised Mayor Emano to
instead turn to Plantation, Mining and logging companies as the causes in the
destruction brought by Sendong.
A relevant article published at www.agham.org last December
22,2011 said that Francis Morales of the
environmental group Panalipdan Mindanao pointed out that the vulnerability of
the area (Cagayan de oro) increased because of the land conversion of watershed
areas to benefit pineapple and jathropa plantations. This has been supported by
a 2009 study by the University of the Philippines National Institute of
Geological Sciences of CDO’s susceptibility to floods. It revealed the
increased vulnerability of downstream communities after the conversion of 2,000
hectares of the Upper Pulangi Watershed’s forest cover into a pineapple
plantation owned by Del Monte Philippines, Inc.
I has to be noted that Martin Ignacio Lorenzo of Del Monte
Phillippines donated P20 million during Noynoy Aquino’s presidential campaign in 2010.
One of those who organized and was present in the press
conference, Ms. Hamida G. Guro of Young Moro Professionals Network Inc.
(Northern Mindanao), appealed to the media to help reveal the truth. “Kami na
ang biktima, kami pa ang sinisisi,” lamented Ms. Guro in Tagalog.
Since the Sendong tragedy happened, Lanao del
Sur has been subjected to many operations by the Armed Forces of the
Philippines. There were reported cases of human rights violations by soldiers
like illegal search, confiscation, and harassment. Timber products including
those already processed were considered illegal by the AFP particularly the 103rd
BDE based in Lanao del Sur. Some furniture
shops and hardware stores had to close down for fear of being the subject of said
operations. As a result, the people of Lanao del Sur need to go down to Iligan
and Cagayan de Oro to buy those timber products needed for construction.
