When Benham Rise began to appear in newspaper headlines at the start of 2017, most Filipinos were shocked to learn that there was such a maritime area close to the Pacific Ocean side of Northern Luzon. That was not surprising because Northwestern Luzon—the provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino and Aurora—has undergone less economic development than the rest of this country’s largest island.
Production growth and environmental conservation are the two sides of the development coin, and its comparative paucity of economic activity has meant that the eastern seaboard of Northern Luzon has largely been able to preserve its national resources—its forests, its farms, its ecosystems and its waters. The forests cover the Northern Sierra Madre Range, which comprises no less than 359,486 hectares. The entire area is protected by the protected area management system, which is administered by the Protected Area Management Board.
Because of the absence of infrastructure, three towns along the Pacific coast of Isabela —Divilacan, Maconacon and Palanan—have remained largely inaccessible. Travel to and from the towns is done by boat and light aircraft. “There is no road that links the provincial capital, Ilagan, with the coastal areas,” laments the governor of Isabela, Faustino Dy III.
e inevitable result has been painfully slow socio-economic development in Divilacan, Palanan and Maconacon. “[Their residents have been deprived] of basic necessities and social services, such as health, and it is difficult to reach them in times of emergency and calamity.”
ll of that will change with the completion three years hence of an 82-kilometer highway across the Sierra Madre mountains that will link Ilagan’s Barangay Sindon Bayabo with Divilacan’s Barangay Dicatian. The P2.28-billion project is scheduled to break ground in December this year. The PAMB has apparently issued the necessary resolution reclassifying the area affected by the highway.
In compliance with the law that protects the rights of indigenous peoples—the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act—the government of Isabela has entered into a memorandum of agreement with the approximately 1,800 Dumagat and Agta residents of the area.
he project would have broken ground much earlier were it not for the concerns raised by the Cagayan Valley Regional Development Council and the Roman Catholic diocese of Ilagan regarding the proposed highway’s likely impact on the area’s biodiversity and ecosystems. Apparently the concerns have been laid to rest.
Governor Dy naturally believes that the completion of the highway—and the consequent opening up of the Sierra Madre range—will administer a big boost to the economies of Isabela’s three coastal towns. Their tourism industries will be the biggest winners. He cited, in particular, Divilacan’s 119-hectare beach and freshwater bathing areas.
As its economic development proceeds, a country finds itself having to bring into the production process more and more of its best natural resources. Eventually its crown jewels become targets for possible deployment in the production process. Agonizing decisions then need to be made.
Chief among this country’s remaining crown jewels are its virgin forests. At last count these had been reduced to approximately 7 percent of the nation’s forest cover—thanks to the past (and continuing?) depredations of illegal loggers – but they remain among the most valuable of this country’s crown jewels. The forests of the Sierra Madre range and the forests of Northeastern Mindanao are the most important of this country’s remaining virgin forests. They are the only things that stand between the Philippines and the overpowering force of climate change.
Should the Sierra Madre range be opened up to allow for economic development? Is the construction of the proposed highway through the pristine forests of the Sierra Madre an inevitable and reasonable price to pay for the economic development of Northwestern Luzon’s coastal communities? Questions such as these will increasingly be asked of this country’s economic policymakers as the progress of Philippine economic development places increasing pressure on the nation’s diminishing natural resources.
In the case of the trans-Sierra Madre highway project, the environment- or economic-development debate appears to have been resolved in favor of economic development.
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