The Environment Department said it filed a criminal complaint with the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor of Palawan against Ipilan Nickel Corp., a unit of listed Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc., over its tree-cutting activities in Brooke’s Point town.
The department said it was also looking into another violation by INC in connection with the alleged illegal construction of a mine yard road within its mining area.
The complaint filed by Brooke’s Point Community Environment and Natural Resources Officer Conrado Corpuz accused INC of cutting 677 trees, most of which were hardwood species, in an area not covered by the permit the company secured last year.
“This is a clear violation of Section 77 of Presidential Decree No. 705, or the Forestry Code of the Philippines, according to the DENR,” the agency said.
The case involves a 1.7-hectare area out of the 24-hectare forest cleared by INC in Barangay Maasin, which the DENR claimed was undoubtedly outside the firm’s tree cutting permit.
The DENR issued a one-year special tree cutting permit to INC in May last year as a part of its mineral production sharing agreement with the agency.
Former Environment secretary Regina Lopez cancelled the company’s environmental compliance certificate on Dec. 16, 2016, rendering its tree cutting permit invalid.
INC earlier insisted the tree cutting permit remained valid since it had filed a motion for reconsideration on the cancellation of its ECC.
“Granting without admitting that INC’s tree cutting permit was valid, the DENR has a strong case against the company on the 1.7-hectare cleared area,” said DENR Mimaropa regional director Natividad Bernardino.
Corpuz said the case they filed was “just the first in a series of cases against the INC.”
He said the DENR would also file other charges against the mining company once the inventory of the trees cut in the remaining 22.3 hectares was completed.
“The onset of the rainy season and the huge number of felled trees has slowed down the retrieval and inventory of trees,” said Corpuz.