PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Philippines–Had he not given up on logging, Jose Chaves Alvarez would still be operating one of the country’s biggest logging concessions in Palawan and might be challenging a special law enacted by Congress in the early 1990s that imposes a ban on commercial tree-cutting in the province. “I gave it [logging] up before I could recover my investments,” Alvarez had told the Inquirer in an interview before the May elections. He had built a fortune from Pagdanan Timber Corp. during the Marcos regime in the 1970s. He claimed that while he had a legal tenure previously issued by the government, he did not exercise his legal option to stop the enforcement of the logging ban solely in Palawan under Republic Act No. 7611 or the Strategic Environmental Plan (SEP) for Palawan. Instead, he diverted his businesses to car manufacturing and dealerships, and other fields. 60% forest cover Ironically, the original concept behind the law allowed the continued operation of Alvarez’s firm, whose license was issued by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, and other existing Timber License Agreements (TLAs), according to the Environmental Legal Assistance Center (Elac), a nongovernment group. With the log ban in place, Palawan’s vast expanse has recovered into lush canopies comparable only to a few isolated forest areas of the country. While the rest of the country has practically written off old-growth forests to just 3 percent, Palawan boasts of around 60-percent forest cover, according to official mapping data. It has become a veritable carbon sink in an era where global warming and the race to suction harmful greenhouse gases from the atmosphere has become a frantic concern of nations and world leaders. More complex challenges Policymakers and environmental advocates agree that even with the advent of RA 7611, which bestows significant powers to local government units rather than to national line agencies like the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), they face even more complex challenges to conserve Palawan’s remaining natural environment. Regulation and permitting of businesses, such as mining, that encroach upon old-growth forests, has become a contentious issue among advocates and government officials. There was also the nagging problem of how to deal effectively with rampant illegal logging, wildlife smuggling and fisheries violations. Coupled with the logging ban policy, the SEP had devised a science-informed system of land classification that demarcates protected areas, which it called the Environmentally Critical Areas Network (Ecan) strategy. It called for every town to map out Ecan zones that designate “core areas” and buffer zones, including multiple-use areas where various forms of nature-invasive activities may be allowed. While economic ventures and investment projects, such as mining and infrastructure development in other parts of the country need an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the SEP required a clearance approved by the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD). But after more than 20 years since the SEP was introduced as a novelty in environmental governance, questions recently cropped up on whether the devolution of most environmental management functions normally exercised by the DENR and other central line agencies to a select group of local policymakers and stakeholders can stand up to the challenge. Interactive mapping Last year, Elac sued provincial officials sitting in the PCSD for alleged violation of the SEP and its provisions protecting Palawan’s remaining forests. It claimed that they had endorsed a large-scale mining project, contrary to what the SEP mandates. Among the respondents in the complaint were former Governor Joel T. Reyes, former Vice Governor David Ponce de Leon, current Governor Abraham Kahlil Mitra and Representative Antonio Alvarez. The case stemmed from the PCSD’s approval of the changes made by a municipality on its Ecan zoning map, evidently in order to free up “core zone” areas in favor of a large-scale mining that was seeking an SEP clearance from the council. Elac lawyer Edward Lorenzo claimed that the Ecan zoning concept had been repeatedly violated by several towns and encouraged by the PCSD at the behest of the mining lobby. “The Ecan zoning system has become practically useless because the council almost always approves changes on the map to accommodate controversial projects. The zoning and mapping system has become ridiculous and whimsical,” Lorenzo said. Lawyer Joselito Alisuag, who had served one term as PCSD executive director, acknowledged that many technical evaluations on critical projects that were provided to the council members had been largely ignored by its key members. “In fairness to the staff of PCSD, they are doing their job well. It is up to the council to uphold their recommendations,” he said. “There had been many instances where we recommended the disapproval of projects because of either their location in the core zones or their negative impacts on the environment, but the council members apparently did not heed our advice and went ahead to approve them anyway,” a senior staff member of the PCSD secretariat, who asked not to be identified, said. Local empowerment “The (SEP) law was designed to empower Palawan stakeholders, but it also allowed some check and balance,” former Environment Undersecretary Delfin Ganapin, now an official of the New York-based United Nations Development Fund, said in an e-mailed interview. Ganapin said civil society groups that were granted seats in the powerful PCSD were the ones to provide a counterbalance against political or partisan interest, but these have become increasingly critical of the futility of their roles. “At the end of the day, Palawan’s forest cover is still there because of the inherent log ban and not because of how the law in its entirety has played out,“ Cleofe Pablo, a former NGO representative to the PCSD, said. The NGOs have only one vote in the PCSD whose overall membership of around 20 individuals vary according to the preference of its key leaders who have traditionally been the main political leaders in the province. Politics in control In its last meeting on July 30, the PCSD, currently chaired by Mitra, revised its manual of operations to invite new members to the council, particularly the original authors of RA 7611 and its past chairs. The move was seen by NGOs as a political accommodation favoring the current administration’s political allies who have lost in the recent elections, notably Reyes and De Leon. In that same meeting, De Leon who was admitted in the PCSD for being an author of the law when he was still a congressman, ended up being elected vice chair despite questions raised by some members about a constitutional ban on the holding of public office by a defeated candidate. The PCSD adjudication board, in a decision obtained by the Inquirer, however, justified De Leon’s inclusion as a member. “The occupation of an ex oficio position does not amount to an appointment so as to counter the prohibition imposed by Article 9, Section 6 of the 1987 Constitution. It only entails additional duties and functions concomitant to an already existing office or title,” the board said. “As far as I could remember, the membership of the council is supposed to provide for democratic and balanced representation,” Ganapin said. He was one of the original framers of the SEP law. The NGOs have raised concerns that by a mere amendment to its manual of operations, the PCSD leadership may have violated the law’s provision stating who will be the council members. “They [council leadership] smuggled that provision in the manual of operations and that is a clear violation of the SEP. It creates a dangerous precedent that will bloat the PCSD membership,” Lorenzo said. Alisuag said the PCSD decision would require them to invite as new council members “at least 33 former congressmen and six senators who have authored the law.” Failed strategy The SEP essentially contemplated a graded valuation of the land and seas of Palawan, with the idea of containing the most biologically important areas as either “core” or “strict protection” areas close to any form of utilization. It also identifies areas that are environmentally marginal, where extractive forms of business such as mining or land quarrying may be conducted. Ganapin is concerned that the manner the SEP and its conservation strategy have been implemented by the key actors involved may not have worked. “I would say that the strategy has already failed when the Palaweños themselves are indifferent or are themselves the proactive spoilers of the environment,” he said. |
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Published un Philippine Daily Inquirer Oct. 15, 2010.
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