Rufus: No more logging, illegal mining or bioethanol
Mike Banos
August 09, 2009
"We shall have no more illegal mining, no more logging, no more bioethanol to worry about once we have this Cagayan de Oro Watershed bill approved," Rodriguez (2nd District, Cagayan de Oro) said following the House Committee on Reforestation´s approval of House Bill No. 5880 "An Act Reforesting 3,000 hectares of public land in Cagayan de Oro City and Appropriating Funds Therefor" he filed earlier following the disastrous January floods which inundated the city.
"From here the bill goes to the Appropriations Committee for budgeting before it goes to the plenary," Rodriguez said shortly after the hearing ended. "Hopefully, we can have it approved before the end of the year.
The bill aims to prevent flash floods and contribute to global efforts in addressing global warming and climate change.
Rodriguez said the proposed reforestation project would benefit the city´s two districts—1,500 hectares for the 1st District and 1,500 for the second. The bill seeks P37.5 million for the reforestation.
Reforestation committee member Rep. Proceso Alcala proposed the inclusion in the bill of the registration of the project for carbon credits before they are planted to enable them to be eligible for trading under the carbon sequestration program of first-world countries and projects.
"The more trees planted the bigger the carbon credits, and the government can use this to sustain reforestation projects," said Alcala.
Rep. Yevgeny Emano of Misamis Oriental proposed a similar reforestation project in his province.
Two weeks ago, the solon met with members of the Kagayan Watershed Alliance (Kawal) and asked them to draft a bill declaring the Cagayan de Oro Watershed as a "Protected Area" to prevent further encroachments by illegal logging, mining and industrial establishments wanting to construct plants within its area.
Rodriguez supported the filing of HB # 5880 with reports from the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council for Region 10 (RDCC-10) showing 58,691 individuals and 12,633 families affected by the two weekend floods last January.
By reforesting 3,000 hectares of denuded public land in Cagayan de Oro, Rodriguez said the forests would mitigate the impact of climate change through sequestration of carbon dioxide; rainfall interception and channeling to underground storage (minimizing flash floods and regulating stream flows); reduce soil erosion and stream sedimentation; bring down ambient air temperature by as much as 1°celcius; and filter air pollutants.
In his presentation, Rodriguez said 72% of the city´s land area of 13,962 hectares is situated on rolling to steep terrain while the remaining 28% is a narrow coastal and flood plain. It is drained by eight streams, seven of which are points of exit of major river watersheds (Cagayan, Bitan-ag, Cugman, Bigaan, Umalag, Agusan, Tagpangi, Ala-e). These seven watersheds have the major portion (80 %) of their drainage basins within Bukidnon province.
Of the timberland area within the watershed, Rodriguez said only 1,809.43 hectares or 34.46 % remains with tree/forest cover. Some adjoining Alienable and Disposable (A & D) lands have steep slopes which are highly susceptible to landslides. Areas for Development/Rehabilitation under HB 5880 are included in a 5,251 hectare timberland area almost fully covered with tenurial instruments (e.g. ISF, IFMA, CBFMA & FLGMA).
The 3,000.0 hectares as proposed for rehabilitation would be equally divided between the 1st District and 2nd congressional districts. Of 1,500 has. to be developed in the 2nd District, some 451 hectares has already been agreed upon with tenurial instrument holders while the remaining areas are subject for negotiations.
Some 166.5 hectares, 38 kms. of stream banks and 30 kms. roadsides have already been rehabilitated in 2008 through DENR forestry projects requested by Rodriguez, with another150 hass programmed for development in 2009 on top of maintenance of the 2008 plantings.
However, Rodriguez admitted some issues and concerns have to be addressed before the project starts, among which are the possible resistance of indigenous peoples (IPs) claiming the timberland areas of the 2nd District. Since 80 percent of the watershed are for the streams flowing through the second district is situated in Bukidnon (where the bulk of silt caused by soil erosion emanates from large scale agri-plantations such as Del Monte, Agrinanas, etc. this would also require massive rehabilitation interventions.
Cagayan de Oro 1st District Rep. Roland Uy cautioned that he believes the proposed budget in the bill would not entirely solve the problem unless a cohesive and unified effort would be established between and among the DENR, the LGU and the people.
"Taking care of our environment is an endeavor that we should all work upon," Uy said in his welcome speech. "No matter how large the budget is and yet if our efforts would be moving in different directions, we will never attain our goal." He said this is why he made sure he would be made co-author of the bill since reforestation is a great concern for the 1st District.
Prior to the close of the public hearing, Rodriguez thanked the Committee on Reforestation headed by Rep. Angelito C. Gatlabayan (2nd District, Antipolo City) and its members for coming to Cagayan de Oro to hear the Bill and supporting it. Other congressmen who participated in the public hearing were Reps. Marcelino Teodoro, Candido Pancrudo Jr., Yevgeny Vincente Emano, Emil Ong, Rolando Uy, Proceso Alcala, Ariel Hernandez, and Teofisto Guingona III.
The solon also thanked the DENR headed by Regional Executive Director Atty. Ernesto D. Adobo, Jr. and Regional Technical Director Dr. Corazon B. Galinato for assisting his office in the research for the bill and in preparing the presentation for the public hearing.
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