STATEMENT BY THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGY OF THE DIOCESE OF BORONGAN ON THE LIFTING OF THE LOGGING MORATORIUM IN SAMAR ISLAND

Beloved People of God:

Once more we are facing a serious challenge as residents of Samar Island and as a people of faith. We stand to systematically lose again our now flourishing forest cover because the logging moratorium that has saved it since 1989 has been lifted. We cannot take this threat to the integrity of God’s creation and to the eco-system in our island lightly.
After a prayerful deliberation we, the Roman Catholic Bishop, the Most Rev. Leonardo Y. Medroso, D.D., and the priests of the Diocese of Borongan, raise our collective protest against the lifting of the logging moratorium in Samar Island, particularly that affecting San Jose Timber Corporation, dated August 15, 2005 and signed by Secretary Michael T. Defensor, Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Our stand is not without basis. We urge our people, our non-Samareño friends and all concerned citizens to consider the following:

1. The circumstances that led to the lifting of the moratorium had not been transparent and the process flawed. Concerned foresters, for example, question the lack of a credible field study by independent experts. Neither had there been any consultation nor public hearing on so grave a matter as the lifting of a logging moratorium that affects not only the San Jose Timber Corporation but also the lives of hundreds of thousands of Samareño Filipinos. It is likewise pointed out that the decision does not even have the endorsement of two sangguni-ans, as is required by law. Moreover, the cutting cycle ordinarily covers twenty five (25) years. There is therefore no reason why, only after 16 years, SJTC should start cutting timber.
2. The ninety five thousand seven hundred seventy (95,770) hectares of timber concession to the SJTC lies at the heart of the one hundred twenty thousand (120,000) hectares of old growth forest and critical watershed constituting the Samar Integrated Forest Reserve (SIFR) and the Samar Island National Park (SINP). To allow the resumption of commercial logging in these protected areas is to make a mockery of the purposes and goals of SIFR and SINP. To say that Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile and SJTC have prior rights to the old growth forest is a legal assertion. It does not reflect true justice or morality. In truth, the people of Samar have more prior rights than both.
3. As stewards of God’s creation people of faith must oppose the lifting of the logging moratorium as it threatens the very survival of at least 80% of Samar’s old growth forest and watershed. This, in turn, threatens our water supply and the livelihood of our farmers whose irrigation mechanisms would be in jeopardy as the watershed breaks down. Moreover, logging threatens the very survival of critical flora and fauna in the island. We cite the 2,400 species of flowering plants, with 406 Philippine endemic species and 40 endemic to Samar Island, which are in the World List of Threatened Species. We also cite the 197 bird species, 50 species being endemic to the Philippines, including the Philippine Eagle, the Philippine Hawk Eagle and the Philippine Cockatoo, not to say 39 species of mammals, 25 species of reptiles and 12 amphibian species etc. To risk the lives, livelihood and survival of these God’s creatures is not only bad governance. It also contradicts our identity and the practice of the faith. We cannot truly say we are God’s children and knowingly put ourselves and his other creatures in harm’s way.
4. Justice to SJTC’s rights has been raised as the principal reason for the lifting of the moratorium. It is so easy to see justice in regard to oneself and to miss justice in regard to others. The Church has always taught that the goods of the earth are meant for all (universal destination of goods). Given the history of logging and mining exploitations in Samar which have only showcased our gross social inequality and massive poverty, justice truly dictates that the natural wealth of Samar Island benefit Samar’s poor and not end up in the hands of the already wealthy few.
5. Pope John Paul II taught that our responsibility to protect the environment is a new field where we Christians witness to the faith (Tertio Millennio Adveniente, no. 46) and constitutes one of the “signs of hope”. That is to say that since it is the Holy Spirit that gives us hope, working to save the integrity of God’s creation is Spirit-inspired. It is the Spirit who “witnesses to our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom 8:16). But the freedom of the children of God is not only meant for them. “Indeed the whole created world eagerly awaits the revelation of the sons of God” and “will be freed from its slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Rom 8:19-21).

Now we are being called to be instruments of the Spirit in extending this freedom of God’s children to our forests in Samar Island.

May God bless us all with the courage and generosity to heed his call!


Yours in the Lord,


The Roman Catholic Bishop and Priests
Diocese of Borongan

Diocese of Catarman
DCC— Bishop’s Residence
Catarman, Northern Samar 6100
Philippines


STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY
AGAINST MINING AND LOGGING

Sisters and brothers in Christ:

1. Samar Island is a very rich repository of biodiversity and considered one of the 200 eco-significant wonders of the world. There are 40 rare species of plants which can only be found in Samar. It is the home of the Philippine Eagle and 18 endangered species of mammals which are found only in the Philippines.

2. In the past 50 years over 60% of the Island’s original forests have been lost to logging, mining, and slash and burn farming causing untold destruction to flora and fauna, accelerating soil erosion and sedimentation and causing flash floods and landslides.

3. In 1989, the whole Catubig Valley which is the rice granary of the province of Northern Samar was inundated for a week causing the loss of 100 human lives and 100 million worth of crops. Taft River in Eastern Samar is until now dead and devoid of any marine life 10 years after the cessation of operations by the mine in Bagacay, Samar.

4. In 1990, Pres. Corazon Aquino stopped all logging operations. In 1996, Pres. Fidel Ramos, proclaimed 347, 000 hectares of primary/closed canopy and second growth forests a protected zone. Pres. Gloria Arroyo declared 333, 300 hectares in Samar Island as a Protected Area to be known as the Samar Island Natural Park (SINP) Pursuant to RA No. 7586 or the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS).

5. Despite the creation of SINP, two large-scale mining companies have previously been granted permission to explore and operate inside the SINP to mine bauxite in an area that reportedly includes headwaters and old growth forest, not to mention the islands of Batag in Laoang, Northern Samar, and Manicani in Eastern Samar. In fact, GMA even ordered DENR Secretary Eliza Gozun a review of laws that have impeded the application of the 1995 Philippine Mining Act.

6. Even while Quezon and Aurora provinces still reel from the recent horrors of the environmental tragedy that struck them, we see the influx of mining companies drawn by a government desperately strapped for cash. We are alarmed over reports that the administration is processing several applications for mining operations in Samar Island. Some logging companies are also seeking the lifting of the logging ban so they could operate again in the hinterland of Samar. The looming entry of mining and logging businesses into our province and the environmental disaster that these activities will bring on the lives of our people and our ecological patrimony, based on our national and local experiences, is of serious concern to all of us.

7. Despite the much-touted promise of development and progress, mining and logging are nothing but curses to the rural poor. Whatever economic gains there may be cannot compensate for the depletion of irreplaceable natural resources. Who ultimately benefits from the reckless exploitation, uncontrolled destruction and wanton dissipation of our mineral and forest reserves (or what remains of it)? Certainly not our people, not the poor.

8. DENR reported that “Samar Island is estimated to have the biggest deposit of high-grade bauxite in the country estimated to be valued at US$21 billion.” But she adds: “Per simulation conducted by the Department, however, the net present value of the direct benefits from the forests, biodiversity and their economic uses (e.g. food, medicines, water, ecotourism, ecological benefits, etc.) is estimated to be higher at US$24 billion. This does not include the direct benefits.”

9. We, therefore, feel a grave responsibility to protect and conserve this natural patrimony. The steps that Samarnons take could well decide the shape of the future and our concern for what is happening to our environment will have a land in what we would like our future to be. This, we believe, is an essential part of our faith.

10. We therefore support the 25-year logging moratorium and seek the cancellation of the Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSAs) and Timber Licensing Agreements (TLAs). And we stand in solidarity with all those who believe in the presentation of our natural resources and the promotion of the authentic development of people.

11. Let us protect the dignity of the people of God! Let us promote the integrity of creation!


For the Faithful, Religious and Clergy of the Diocese of Catarman,




+ ANGEL T. HOBAYAN, D.D.
Bishop of Catarman
7 February 2005

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