Gingoog+logging+firm+faces+allegations+anew

Gingoog+logging+firm+faces+allegations+anew

A LEADER of the Indigenous People (IP) in Gingoog City has accused a controversial logging company of encroaching into their ancestral domains, cutting trees outside its concession area without the natives' permission.

Datu Bayhon T. Ansihagan, leader of the Higaonon tribe in the hinterland area of Baliguihan, some 48 kilometers from downtown Gingoog City, reported to the alleged intrusion to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Center (DENR) late last week.

Ansihagan accused the Southwood Timber Corporation is (STC) of conducting logging operations in their sanctuary, particularly in Sitios Talangisog and Kipaw-as in Barangay Eureka.

STC has over 11,400-hectare concession under the Integrated Forest Management Agreement (IFMA) in Gingoog City and neighboring Claveria town. The wood firm has recently been investigated for its alleged "technical illegal logging" operation in these areas.

The Baliguihan Higaonon Ancestral Domain or CADC No. 19 is adjacent to STC's concession area.

"STC bulldozed our forest, cut the hardwood trees like lawaan without the consent of Baliguihan Higaonon Community," said Datu Ansihagan, who personally handed the tribes letter to the Community Environment and Natural Resources (CENRO) office in Gingoog City.

Ansihagan said CENRO should "immediately" intervene in the alleged encroachment, lest the remaining forest covers in Baliguihan area be wiped out.

STC representatives cannot immediately be reached for comment.

Early this year, thousands of Gingoog City residents took to the streets to demand the scrapping of STC's IFMA, alleging that the company was engaged illegal logging operation and involved in intimidations on the IP communities under its concession.

An IP community under STC's concession area had earlier alleged that there was no proper consultation on their part before the company was allowed to operate within their ancestral domains.

The Minalwang Higa-onon Tribal Council in Claveria town, whose 8,000-hectare ancestral domain is within STC's concession area, claimed that STC was granted IFMA despite its failure to get the tribal community's consent.

As a prerequisite for any project within a registered ancestral domain, a project proponent must secure a Certificate of Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) from the affected indigenous cultural communities, as provided in the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA or R.A. 8371).

Further, environmental groups had earlier pointed out that under Department Administrative Order No. 53 series of 1999 or Regulation Governing the Integrated Forest Management Program, under Section 5, Ancestral Domain or Ancestral Lands are areas prohibited for IFMA applications.

STC's IFMA, granted in 2008, will expire in 2033.

The Baliguihan Higaonon Ancestral Domain or CADC No. 19 is the first Ancestral Domain Certificate issued in Misamis Oriental, according to the provincial office of the National Commission on Indigenous People.

Published in the Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro newspaper on June 8, 2010.