DESTROYED. A portion of land with naturally grown trees burned down by new settlers in upland Canyupay village in Borongan City, Eastern Samar in this May 16, 2023 photo. A Roman Catholic bishop in Eastern Samar has called on the government to hire more forest rangers to protect the remaining forest covers on the island. (Photo courtesy of Borongan City government)
TACLOBAN CITY – A Catholic bishop in Eastern Samar has called on the government to hire more forest rangers to protect the remaining forest covers on the island.
Borongan Diocese Bishop Crispin Vasquez urged the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to hire more forest rangers and make their employment regular.
“If they are regular employees, they will take the responsibility as forest guards. Presently, there are only a few forest guards in Eastern Samar and they are just contractual workers,” said Vasquez in an interview Thursday.
Vasquez is one of the three bishop-convenors of Samar Island Partnership for Peace and Development (SIPPAD) along with officials from the Philippine Army, Philippine National Police, local government units, people’s organizations, and non-government organizations, advocating environment protection.
The DENR regional office could not provide the number of existing forest guards in Samar Island, heading recent directives to seek approval first from their main office before releasing information to the media.
The presence of more forest guards will create a huge impact on the prevention or reduction of natural forest loss.
Data from globalforestwacth.org show that in 2010, Eastern Samar had 263,000 hectares of natural forest, extending over 93 percent of its land area. In 2021, the province lost 316 hectares of natural forest, equivalent to 207 kilotons of carbon dioxide emissions.
Samar is the third largest island in the Philippines next to Luzon and Mindanao with a total land area of 13, 438.8 kilometers.
Found on the island is the Samar Island Natural Park (SINP) largest contiguous tract of old-growth forest in the country and the largest protected area with a total of 333,300 hectares with its buffer spreading to a total of 458, 700 hectares of about a third of the entire island.
Inside the SINP are plants and animals which contain several threatened species that belong to Eastern Visayas and Mindanao biogeographic regions, and natural landmarks and landscapes like the Sohoton Cave Natural Bridge, Calbiga Cave, and the Taft Forest Wildlife Sanctuary.
“To mitigate the effect of climate change and protect the balance of economy, this island should be protected and preserved from further destruction like mining, kaingin, and alike,” Vasquez added.
Meanwhile, Northern Samar Governor Edwin Ongchuan earlier announced that the provincial government will create a Task Force against Illegal mining and logging.
The team will be composed of personnel from the Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine Army, and the Philippine National Police headed by a designated provincial officer.
Usually, illegal loggers bring down the logs through the river by drifting them in the current of water until it reaches the sea.
As part of the provincial government's effort to go after illegal loggers, Ongchuan shares that they acquired two high-speed banca to go after illegal loggers who usually flee towards the Bicol region.
DENR recently reported that it had trained 286 policemen for the deputation seminar on the enforcement of environmental and natural resources laws in Eastern Visayas.
The training aims to address the limited number of DENR personnel in Eastern Visayas. These deputized officers are tasked to assist the DENR in the enforcement of environmental laws, rules, and regulations, as well as issuing apprehension receipts and conducting DENR awareness programs. (PNA)
