LEGAZPI CITY, (March 28, 2011) — Ensuring that the enforcement of Executive Order 23 will be complied with in Bicol, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) convened and created the regional anti-illegal logging task force (RAILTF).
“This inter-agency task force is in line with the recently passed resolution of the national anti-illegal logging task force (NAILTF) chaired by Environment Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje calling for the creation of local task forces in all regions of the country, except in the National Capital Region (NCR)” DENR Regional Executive Director Joselin Marcus Fragada said in the first ever assembly of the RAILTF held on March 16, 2011.
Director Fragada stressed the importance of the creation of the regional task force in checking a hundred percent compliance on the local level with President Aquino’s EO 23.
“The task force is set to monitor activities in natural and residual forest in Bicol Region with agents deputized by virtue of the Executive Order” he added.
Fragada explained further that the task force will conduct surveillance, apprehension of illegal loggers and pursue cases against them as provided for by EO 23. RED Fragada urges local executives to provide support to the RAILTF in the crusade against illegal logging which is further underpinned in Resolution No. 2011-003, as it designates the task force to act on reports by local executives, through their provincial governors or the regional directors of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
Resolution 2011-003 provides that “all concerned municipal/city mayors, though their respective barangay captains” are to conduct upland monitoring “to ensure that no illegal logging, kaingin and other forms of forest destruction” take place within their jurisdictions with the injunction to report to the RTFs, “through the Provincial Governor and/or the DILG Regional Director,” incidents of forests destruction especially slash and burn farming (kaingin) and illegal logging activities.
The RAILTF members included the DILG, the Armed Forces of the Philippines 9th Infantry Division and its 901st, 902nd and 903rd Infantry Brigades, Phil. Navy - Naval Forces Southern Luzon, Phil. Air Force Tactical Operations Group V, Phil. National Police Regional Office V, Phil. Coast Guard, Department of Transportation and Communication, National Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice. As of press time, the inter-agency task force is organizing an operation center (OPCEN) to ensure speedy mobilization of all its assets.
Meanwhile, to further strengthen Resolution 2011-003, the NAILTF also passed Resolution 2011-04 detailing a wide range of activities which include the conduct of periodic aerial surveillance; acquisition of aerial photos to be provided by the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA), particularly of critical areas and hotspots identified by the DENR; conduct of massive consultations and trainings with upland peoples organizations on the development of social fences around natural and residual forests nationwide. (JESSEL BASANTA)
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