Logging inside El Nido protected area bared

Rampant illegal logging is now putting even protected and reserved areas, and a prime tourist destination under serious threat of degradation, an international environment group revealed yesterday.

The World Wide Fund (WWF) said that there is an extensive logging on the island of Matinloc, which is part of El Nido’s 33-hectare Protected Area. This has been confirmed by forest rangers of the Protected Area Office (PAO) in the country’s top tourist spot.

Ina Pozon, communication officer of WWF, said that during a visit in Matinloc, 27 big Ipil trees and five more trees of other species were found already cut down and in the initial stages of being sliced into lumber.

The law prohibits logging and harvesting of timber products in a protected area.

El Nido is located on the northernmost tip of Palawan and is famous for its lagoons, limestone cliffs, historical caves, dive sites, wildlife, and tropical rainforest all over the world. Its forest also forms a part of the watershed, a natural resource of freshwater in the absence of major rivers and aquifers.

"But the beauty of the environment isn’t just for the tourists. For the 27,000 people who also call El Nido home, the environment is their source of water, food, shelter, and income. Because El Nido has no other major source of freshwater and because agriculture is an important local industry, the impact of large scale logging will be nothing short of disastrous," Pozon said.

To date, the PAO in El Nido has seized more than 3,000 board feet of illegal lumber from various places within and around the protected area. WWF said that the lumber was being sold not only within El Nido but also as far away as Mindoro, Cavite and Batangas.

Meanwhile, the Puerto Princesa City Environment and Natural Resources (ENRO) Forest Ranger recently confiscated over 173 board feet of gmelina and tanabag lumber within the Palawan Flora and Fauna and Watershed Reservation.

Forest Officer Elmore Maquitoque, of the local Department of Environment and Natural Resources office in Palawan, said the first incident of confiscation of illegally cut forest products were at Purok Sampalok, Bgy. Sicsican. The lumber was loaded in a passenger jeepney (DVL-324) and to be delivered to the Homeowners Association of the village. The owners of the contraband were identified as Mario Tabiam and Ruben Nino of the nearby Bgy. Irawan.

The other confiscation, which was also within the reservation area, led to the arrest of known illegal loggers Totong Hurada and Bonifacio Granada, and a John Doe. — Katherine Adraneda