Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Wednesday led lawmakers in conducting an oversight hearing on forest management in Region III following concerns over the issuance by the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources of permits to cut 3,000 trees near the Angat Dam.
The hearing conducted by the House Committee on Natural Resources was presided by Committee Vice Chairman Rep. Francisco Jose Matugas II of Surigao Del Norte.
The Arroyo-led House committee meeting sought to assess the information brought forth by Jesus Santos, National Association of Lawyers for Justice and Peace founding chairman, that the DENR granted a permit in 2016 to cut down 26,000 trees near the Angat Dam.
Santos said that this was later reduced to 3,000 trees. The cut trees were deposited to and continue to remain at the compound of Hanjin Heavy Industries, which has since shuttered its operations in the Philippines.
Arroyo said the lawmakers have been accommodating and flexible by letting Santos talk lengthily about the matter.
DENR Assistant Regional Director Arthur Salazar also attended the committee hearing, saying that the Angat Hydropower Corp. contracted the cutting of trees in its efforts to retrofit the Angat Dam. In the terminal report of the DENR, of the 3,000 trees that the permit allowed to be cut, only 1,041 were cut and 230 saplings were boled.
Salazar also said that the Hanjin Heavy Industries compound belongs to the Angat Hydropower Corporation and the trees were stored there because the regional office of the DENR lacked space.
On the issue pertaining to a permit to cut 3,000 trees, Rep. Julieta Cortuna of A TEACHER said that the DENR should only issue permits that conform with the number of trees that actually need to be cut.
For his part, Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano of ABANG-LINGKOD party-list said that the practice has been a long-running issue with the DENR. He worried that such a discrepancy could lead to a lack of transparency.
“Supposedly, the number of trees to be issued by a permit should be exactly the same after the survey being made by the DENR. Ito ang pagsisimula ng problema… Kumbaga, bloated yung sa permit. So it will cause, of course, actual maneuver of the one seeking the permit at the same time, with due respect, to the DENR personnel on the ground. Kaya dito pa lang, palyado. May problema kayo dito,” he said.