beautiful samar

A STATEMENT OF UTMOST CONCERN BY THE
CATHOLIC CLERGY OF THE DIOCESE OF CALBAYOG
ON THE LIFTING OF THE LOGGING MARATOTIUM IN SAMAR ISLAND IN FAVOR OF SAN JOSE TIMBER CORPORATION


Beloved People of God:

In 1998, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) issued a pastoral letter entitled: What is happening to Our Beautiful Land? The pastoral letter expresses the anxiety of the Catholic bishops over the attack being made on the natural world which was endangering its fruitfulness over the future generations.

This attack on our fragile environment will take centerstage yet again at the very heart of Samar Island which before was ravaged of its lush forests. The widespread and unabated logging in Samar in the 1980s was the major cause of the devastating floods and landslides in the island that have resulted in unwanted loss of human lives and misery to the thousand of Samareños.

Thus, after a prayerful annual retreat at the Canossa House of Spirituality in Tagaytay City, we, the Roman Catholic Bishop, the Most Rev. Jose S. Palma, and the clergy of the Diocese of Calbayog, jointly protest over the unilateral lifting of the logging moratorium in Samar Island in favor of San Jose Timber Corporation. The issuance of the memorandum order duly signed by Sec. Michael T. Defensor of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), grants the SJTC the right to pursue large-scale extraction of timber resources. With its lifting however, a new ruthless threat to human lives, properties and the forests’ vast genetic diversity has begun.

We have good reasons to oppose such lopsided pronouncement and consequently call upon our people to mull over the following facts:

1. The issuance of a memorandum order by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources granting the SJTC the right to pursue large-scale extraction of timber resources was irregular, if not malicious. The local people were never consulted nor public hearings conducted before the ban was lifted. Still it is the local people who suffer when large-scale extraction of timber resources deplete the natural habitat, drain water and forest resources, and flood lowland communities. Mater et Magistra # 55 says that the “local people are in the best position to decide on development strategies that best respond to their needs and conditions”.

2. The memorandum order states that a “multi-sectoral group composed of representatives of the local government, the Catholic Church, foresters and DENR officials submitted a Report on their comprehensive study of the area covered by TLA no. 118 unanimously recommending the lifting of the logging moratorium. However, the fact is that the priest-representative from the Catholic Church did not affix his own signature in the space provided for. Surprisingly though, somebody else’s name appears therein.

3. The memorandum order granting the SJTC the right to pursue commercial logging inside the Samar Island Natural Park (Presidential Proclamation 442) deliberately derides the very essence of a ‘protected area’. The management zones in the existing Initial Protected Area Plan (IPAP) and the draft Management Plan of SINP clearly indicate that the area claimed by San Jose Timber Corporation (SJTC) would not allow for any commercial logging primarily because this is the headwaters of at least 25 major river systems draining out to the three (3) provinces of Samar Island. Apart from this fact that the area claimed by SJTC is composed of old growth forest, where logging is absolutely prohibited.

4. The unique biophysical characteristics of Samar’s forests explicate the need for its protection because Samar is among the areas with the highest rainfall in the country. The watershed areas of major rivers receive up to 5, 000 mm of rainfall per year. When such rain is concentrated on an area, the runoff results in severe flooding. Therefore, the more rainfall area receives, the more such area need its trees. Furthermore, 58% if the Samar land area is steeper than 25% slope. Steep slopes lead the erosion but steeper slopes lead to landslides. Thus, logging in steeper slopes is too perilous for communities downstream.

5. The SINP is the longest contiguous lowland tropical forest in the Philippines. It is one of the 200 Eco-Regions (high biodiversity and rate of endemism) in the world vital in preserving the earth’s biodiversity. It is one of the 18 Centers of Plant Diversity and one of the 9 Endemic Bird Areas in the Philippines. It is envisaged to provide security and land tenure to at least 200, 000 upland dwellers and help reduce poverty thorough sustainable farming systems. However, its richness and potentials as a center of the island’s development will disappear because of a ‘prior right of one man— en. Juan Ponce Enrile. This is injustice plain and simple. The truth of the of the matter is that the Samarnons have more prior rights over the resources of the island.

6. SJTC invokes the clause on ‘prior rights’ for the extraction or utilization of natural resources and justify the resumption of logging in Samar Island. The firm however regards such right as absolute. But in truth, the ‘right’ accorded to him by government is a mere ‘privilege’ which could be recalled when the common good is at stake. The Church teaches thus, (Church in the Modern World # 69) “God destined the earth and all it contains for all people and nations so that all created things would be shared fairly by all humankind under the guidance of justice tempered by charity.” Furthermore, Popuiorum Progression # 69 reminds us: “God destined the earth with all that it contains for the use of all peoples and nations, in such a way that created things in fair share should accrue to all peoples under the leadership of justice with charity as a companion.”
We must therefore remember that the forests are not just trees for timber but a rich tapestry of interrelationships that make up an ecosystem. This ecosystem in turn nourishes people, feeds communities and sustains the food chain.


May God bless our efforts with His grace of peace.


Sincerely,

His Excellency the Roman Catholic Bishop and the
Clergy of the Diocese of Calbayog, Samar,
Philippines