By Jazmin S. Camero, MRS-PRIB
The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill imposing life imprisonment to people engaged in illegal logging in the country.
House Bill 5485, authored by Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez (2nd District, Cagayan de Oro City) shall provide protection, rehabilitation and sustainable management of the country's forests.
Under the proposed Sustainable Forest Management Act of 2011, harvesting, gathering or collecting timber or other forest products from any forestland with a market value of more than P500,000 and without authority from the Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will be declared illegal punishable with life imprisonment.
Rodriguez said any person who shall buy logs, flitches and lumber from economic saboteurs and use them in government infrastructure projects will also get life imprisonment.
Under the bill, people who illegally acquired forest products with a market value of less than P500,000 shall be punished with imprisonment ranging from prision mayor minimum period to reclusion temporal minimum period and a fine equivalent to ten times the value of the said forest product.
Likewise, persons who are guilty of unlawful occupation of forestlands, illegal conversation of municipal parks, communal forests and tree parks, falsification of reports, inventory scaling and forest survey, unlawful operation of sawmills, unlawful possession of devices used by forest officers, unauthorized introduction of logging tools and equipment inside forestlands, and non-payment of forest charges will get a prison term of 12 years and a fine of not more than P500,000.
"As of year 2000, the leading cause of forest disturbance is illegal cutting, with a total of 4,920 hectares of land destroyed, the highest incidence since the 1990s," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said the country lost resources worth P48.6 billion to harvesting and other logging activities while the conversion of forestland to non-forest use accounted for P20.4 billion in losses.
"Also contributing to the decline in stocks were forest fires, accounting for P439 million, and the natural death of trees, which accounted for P5.9 billion. Demand for agricultural land is also one of the main reasons that forests continue to be erased at the rate of 13 million hectares a year. By 2005, forests were estimated at 47 percent of the total land, from 51 percent in 1990. From 1990 until 2000, the rate of deforestation of the Philippines is 1.4 percent," Rodriguez said.
"Therefore, the bill seeks to restore our forest to its old grandeur and richness by implementing a plan for sustainable forest management," Rodriguez stressed.
"The use of natural resources requires a balancing act between present and future consumption, especially amidst scarcity and depletion," Rep. Susan Yap (2nd District, Tarlact), one of the authors of the bill, said. "The government must be mindful of the needs of future generations and must therefore practice conservation to ensure long-term sustainability," Yap said.
"Forests house diverse species and natural resources that contribute to economic well-being, them being the source of income for many local communities as well as for daily consumption," Yap said.
The co-authors of the bill are Reps. Maximo Rodriguez, Jr. (Party-list, Abante Mindanao), Juan Edgardo Angara (Lone District, Aurora), Angelo Palmones (Party-list, AGHAM), Danilo Ramon Fernandez (1st District, Laguna), Erico Aumentado (2nd District, Bohol), Jesus Celeste (1st District, Pangasinan), Teddy Brawner-Baguilat Jr. (Lone District, Ifugao), Mel Senen Sarmiento (1st District, Eastern Samar), Arthur Defensor Jr. (3rd District, Iloilo) and several other congressmen.
With the Sendong Disaster, it is expected that the Senate will pass a counterpart measure for it to become a law.
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