BONTOC, Mountain Province – The Regional Trial Court Branch 35 here has granted the petition of concerned residents of Sabangan town for a permanent environment protection order against individuals who have been converting the Batacang forest reservation into vegetable gardens.
In a five-page order, Judge Joseph Patnaan ordered the Cordillera office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Community Environment and Natural Resources Office in Sabangan to stop and prevent the respondents and anybody acting on their behalf from converting the portions of the forest zone.
The respondents have even been granted tax declarations in creating their veggie gardens at Am-amoting and Ambango in Batacang and Obuainto, but the PEPO prevents them “rom cutting trees for ‘kaingin’ farming, earthmoving and land conversion activities, using chemical fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides, and other substances that pollute the soil, water and air.”
The court also ordered the concerned government agencies to plant trees in the denuded portions of the reservation or spots damaged by the earthmoving and bulldozing activities.
Patnaan ordered the government agencies to guard and patrol the subject area to prevent the illegal and destructive activities, and apprehend and prosecute all violators. The court also required DENR-CAR and CENRO Sabangan “to perform all needed measures to ensure the protection and preservation of the environment.”
The respondents were ordered to immediately remove their barbed-wire fences that “restrict the community from use and enjoyment of the communal forest zone.”
The court also directed the provincial assessor and municipal assessor of Sabangan to stop issuing tax declarations without compliance with the provisions of Section 84 of Presidential Decree 705, or the Forestry Reform Code of the Philippines, and other related laws,
Patnaan also ordered the immediate cancellation of the issued tax declarations of the respondents over the subject area at Batacang, Am-amoting, Amango, Ubua, Data, and Sabangan.