By Manny Piñol
Anungan, Sibuco, Zamboanga del Norte – Residents of four Zamboanga del Norte towns where almost 100 people were reported to have perished or gone missing and hundreds of millions worth of agricultural products were destroyed following flash floods brought by Typhoon Vinta Dec. 22 are asking President Rody Duterte to order an investigation of the continued logging operations in the mountain range of the Zamboanga Peninsula.
People are blaming the company, Sodaco Development Corporation reportedly owned by the Consunji Family and involved in large-scale logging operations in the mountains of the Peninsula, for the flash floods which swept away over 100 houses at the height of Typhoon Vinta which hit Northern Mindanao shortly before Christmas.
In this isolated coastal village of Anungan alone, over 70 houses were destroyed and 40 people were swept to the sea by flash floods rushing down from the mountains where the logging operations are being done.
Sibuco Mayor Bong Edding said 30 more members of the community are missing and presumed dead while a young woman from the village was picked up by a fishing boat in the Sulu Seas and was brought to Antique Province where she is being treated for her injuries.
Police reported 100 deaths in the whole province of Zamboanga del Norte because of flash floods from the mountains where the Sodaco Development Corporation, known to residents as DACON and believed to be owned by the Consunji Family, is cutting down trees in an area estimated to be 60,000 hectares.
Massive agricultural damage and deaths were also reported in the towns of Sirawai, Siocon and Baliguian which along with Sibuco belong to the Triple S-B cluster of towns located in the western portion of the elongated coastal province of Zamboanga del Norte.
On Friday, Jan. 5, I flew by helicopter to Barangay Anungan and landed on the beach of the devastated village where I saw coconut trees uprooted like ordinary weeds, remnants of swept houses and broken wooden fishing boats.
On the way to Sibuco from Molave, Zamboanga del Sur where I held a consultation with local officials and farmers also affected by Typhoon Vinta, the helicopter I was in flew over the coastal towns of Zamboanga del Norte.
From the air, I saw massive damage to rice farms covered by mud from the rivers which overflowed the banks obviously at the height of the typhoon.
Siocon and Sirawai towns suffered the most damage with newly planted farms appeared to be just an endless brown sea from the air.
From the air, the DA team also took pictures of what appeared to be a log pond operated by SODECO where logs are reported to be loaded into large boats to be brought to unknown destinations.
Sirawai Mayor Garmar Janihim who met up with the Department of Agriculture team in Anungan said he and the other mayors of the Triple S-B towns have long petitioned against the logging operations of SODECO in the mountains upstream of their towns.
They have asked for explanations from previous officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) why in spite of the national policy banning logging totally in the country, a corporation has continued cutting down logs in the mountains of Zamboanga Peninsula.
“Masyado silang malakas sa taas,” said Mayor Edding who complained that they could not even enter the DACON area without the permission of SODECO officials who reportedly maintain a 600-man paramilitary force to guard the logging concessions.
He said that in spite of the issuance of the total log ban by the Aquino Administration, the previous administration was not able to stop the logging operations.
With the help of our helicopter pilot, former Presidential Pilot and retired Air Force officer, Col. Butch Israel, I flew over the DACON area and saw proofs of massive deforestation in the Zamboanga Mountain Range just above the coastal towns affected by the flash floods.
There were patches planted to Oil Palm which I believe is being used as an excuse to justify the clearing of the forests under an Integrated Social Forestry license granted to the company in 2006.
From the air, however, it was evident that logging roads were being constructed leading to the dense forests not to plant Oil Palm but primarily to cut down trees.
This issue actually is the concern of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) since it was the Department which issued the permit to SODECO.
Nevertheless, since the flash floods caused by the deforestation of the mountain range have killed fishermen and destroyed farm lands, I will have to submit this problem to President Duterte during our Cabinet Meeting on Monday.
I believe that if this is not addressed, the people of the coastal towns of Zamboanga del Norte will suffer worse tragedies in the future.
Agriculture and Fisheries in these towns will also be adversely if not irreversibly affected.
(The first photo taken by HEA Bong Piñol from an Air Force helicopter shows what appears to be a log pond with logs appearing like match sticks. This is in Sirawai and it is reportedly operated by SODECO. I took the photos of the logging area of SODECO using my iPhone while I was piloted by Col. Butch Israel. I also took the photos of the flooded and mud-covered rice fields of Siocon and Sirawai while Larry Nuestro of DA-AFID took the photo showing me and Sibuco Mayor Bong Edding viewing what remained of an area full of fishermen’s houses after the flash floods.)
More Stories
Breadfruit Grows Fast In My Dreamed Food Forest!
From The Town Of Hornbills To The City Of Fruits & Highland Springs!
After A Learning Tour,