Gov’t stops Consunji logging operations

President Duterte has ordered the closure of all logging operations of Consunji-owned South Davao Development Co. Inc. (Sodaco) in Zamboanga del Norte after flash floods and mudslides triggered by severe tropical storm “Vinta” killed hundreds of people and damaged agricultural lands in four towns in the province.

The agricultural company, which operates a 60,000-hectare concession area under a program of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), is being blamed for the worsening impact of natural disasters that hit Mindanao late last year.

At the Cabinet meeting on Monday, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol presented to President Duterte a footage taken when he conducted an aerial inspection of the areas where Sodaco operated in the Zamboanga provinces. The Consunji company have spin-offs in the area, including Dacon-Sirawai Plywood and Lumber Co.

After watching a 5-minute video of the deforested portion of the Zamboanga mountain range, President Duterte immediately directed Secretary Cimatu to implement the closure order. “Roy, ipasara mo yan. Hindi naman maghihirap yan si Consunji kasi oligarch na yan,” Piñol quoted the President as saying.

Piñol said Duterte wanted Cimatu himself to enforce the closure of the Consunji logging operations.

Earlier, Piñol said he would recommend a halt to the logging operations of the Consunji firm, saying he was upset to see the enormous damage that severe Tropical Storm Vinta had caused in the region and in the two Lanao provinces when he conducted an aerial inspection.

Piñol said in areas near Dacon’s operations, more than 100 people died during Vinta’s wrath.

Dacon had been clearing massive areas in Western Mindanao to plant oil palm. “We have documents, photos showing the cutting down of trees in the mountains of Zamboanga, upstream of Sirawai, Sibuco, Siocon (towns) caused the massive flooding and the deaths,” he added.

Dacon had secured an Integrated Social Forestry (ISF) to log 60,000 hectares of land in Western Mindanao during the term of the late environment secretary Angelo Reyes.

“I don’t want to give malice to what they are doing but I think the cutting down of trees is more important to them because I saw the cleared area and only a very small area is planted to oil palm and you don’t plant oil palm in the mountains. I am an oil palm farmer. We don’t plant it on the mountains unless you use this as an excuse to cut down more trees,” he said.

Sodaco, for its part, issued a statement saying it was “hasty and unfair” to attribute the unfortunate events in the area in Sodaco’s clearing operations without due process or scientific proof.

“Sodaco has been operating in the Zamboanga Peninsula for 11 years, and this is the first time that a flood and landslide of this magnitude has ever occurred in the area,” the statement read. “The devastation and casualties are unfortunate and disheartening, but Sodaco should not be blamed for what happened. We welcome DENR’s investigation, and look forward to setting the record straight about our operations.”

Rudy Cabuay, Dacon liaison officer and manager of SPLC in Barangay Guban, Sirawi, rejected Piñol’s statement, saying what happened was “a calamity.”

“It’s a phenomenon,” Cabuay said of the storm and its effects. “Even Salug, the town where there is no logging operation, suffered heavy death toll during Vinta,” Cabuay added.

He said Dacon-SPLC was also not involved in illegal logging activities as it was only harvesting what it had planted. “Our area has a cutting permit for planted trees. Whatever we planted, we log. Immediately, we replant the logged areas with various species [such as] acacia mangium, gmelina, falcata,” Cabuay said. —WITH REPORTS FROM JULIE ALIPALA AND ALLAN NAWAL