KIDAPAWAN CITY, North Cotabato -- The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is donating some 4,000 board feet of confiscated lumber to help the provincial government in its rehabilitation program.
This was relayed by Gov. Nancy Catamco on Tuesday when DENR-12 Assistant Director Ma. Socorro Lanto and Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) chief Mamutur Cariga paid a courtesy visit on the governor.
The forest products to be donated were seized by PENRO during its law enforcement operations.
“We welcome this good news for our people,” Catamco said Wednesday, adding the lumber will be used to construct temporary learning centers and shelters for families displaced by the recent earthquakes.
Catamco has received complaints from evacuees living in tents and temporary shelters in school grounds about the unbearable heat inside the “plastic homes.”
She said the tarpaulin or laminated plastic sacks built as temporary shelters have already deteriorated.
“We pity the children and mothers with babies,” Catamco told the Philippine News Agency.
Catamco had requested that illegally-cut forest products seized by the DENR be donated to the provincial government to help alleviate the plight of earthquake victims. The request was made during last month’s joint meeting of the Provincial Peace and Order Council, Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council and Provincial Development Council.
Meanwhile, Catamco has also asked Lanto and Cariga to help in the bamboo propagation project, which is part of the provincial government rehabilitation plan.
“Bamboo will be planted in mountain slopes, particularly in areas prone to landslides as part of soil erosion prevention,” she said.
“The project will not only help in reforestation initiative of our government, but will also provide livelihood opportunities to the communities wherein the provincial government will intervene in looking for interested investors,” Catamco said. (PNA)
