Posted on May, 08 2002
An anonymous tip given to the Protected Area Office (PAO) of El Nido alerted park rangers to the extensive logging on the island of Matinloc, a part of El Nido�s 33-hectare Protected Area. PAO rangers who arrived in Matinloc confirmed the presence of 27 big Ipil trees and five more trees of other species, all of which were already cut down and in the initial stages of being sliced into lumber. Logging, as well as the harvest of other timber products in a Protected Area, is prohibited under Philippine law.
El Nido is located on the northernmost tip of Palawan and is famous the world over for its lagoons, limestone cliffs, historical caves, dive sites, wildlife, and tropical rainforest. But the beauty of the enivornment 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. The forests of El Nido form an important part of the watershed, a natural source of freshwater in the absence of major rivers and aquifers. They also prevent erosion and flooding. Because El Nido has no other major source of freshwater and because agriculture is an important local industry, the impacts of large scale logging will be nothing short of disastrous.
The PAO has been hard-pressed to properly implement enforcement measures against illegal loggers. After funding for the Protected Area ended in June of 2001, only one regular ranger was left to patrol the entire Protected Area. In February of this year, WWF-Philippines began supporting the PAO�s enforcement activities as an added component of the community-based resource management project being facilitated by WWF in the area. Four more rangers were added to the PAO and in the two months since, the El Nido PAO has seized more than 3,000 board feet of illegal lumber from various places within and around the Protected Area. Reports have it that the lumber isn�t just being sold within El Nido, but is being shipped to as far as Mindoro, Cavite, and Batangas.
�It is ironic that massive logging is going on unchecked in a protected area. WWF, as a member of the PAMB (Protected Area Management Board), is determined to help enforce the forestry law,� says RJ dela Calzada, Project Manager of the WWF El Nido Project.
The PAO, supported by WWF-Philippines is continuing enforcement operations, determined to do what they can to keep illegal loggers out of the El Nido forests.
For further information:
RJ dela Calzada
Project Manager, El Nido Project, WWF-Philippines
Tel: +63 2 4333220 to 22
Ina Pozon
Communications Officer for Media, WWF Philippines
Tel: +63 2 433-3220 to 22
E-mail: ipozon@wwf-phil.org.ph
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