1999 not too kind on environment in Mindanao-2

Zamboanga City

Three major flash floods--in April, August and

December--destroyed millions of pesos worth of agricultural

crops, farm to market roads, foot and hanging bridges, houses,

irrigation dams and dikes.

City Agriculturist Alberto Alfaro said the damage to crops alone

reached almost P150 million.

About a hundred houses were destroyed, dislocating some

2,000 families.

A joint fact-finding investigation of illegal logging by city

government officials and the Community Environment and

Natural Resources Office implicated some influential officials

but no one has been arrested until now.

Davao City

Flash floods also struck the city thrice last year, the worst on

Dec. 23, displacing 10,000 families.

In early December, a family of six was swept by the floods in

Tamugan, Calinan district.

Davao del Sur

The entry of small scale miners in Sitio Latil, Barangay Dongan

Pikong, Matanao triggered fears of mercury poisoning similar to

what happened in Davao del Norte. Because of the difficulty of

bringing down the ores, the small scale miners, most of whom

are inexperienced, planned to mill the ores in the area.

The biggest environmental issue in the province is still the

incursion of the Western Mining Corp. but banana plantations

are also becoming a major threat to the environment because of

their use of highly poisonous chemicals.

Bukidnon

Anti-logging barricades returned to Bukidnon's streets after 11

years. Barricaders protested the transport of logs from Lanao

del Sur, where logging under the Autonomous Region in

Muslim Mindanao, is allowed.

Bukidnon Bishop Honesto Pacana's letters to Cerilles on the

transport of undersized and freshly cut logs went unanswered.

The entry of mining companies in the province has also

triggered problems because it threatens the province's

remaining forest areas and the indigenous peoples.

Reports from a human rights group indicate that mining has

caused the displacement of lumads in Quezon, San Fernando,

Cabanglasan and Kitaotao towns.

Another issue among Bukidnon residents was the revival of the

proposal from Bukidnon Forests, Inc. to harvest pine trees in

Malaybalay City.

The proposal pitted BFI against the people of Malaybalay, who

struggled to save the city's symbol.

The lumads, fearing more environmental degradation,

proclaimed ownership of all medicinal plants found in Mt.

Kitanglad Range.

Misamis Occidental

The rehabilitation and conservation programs of

non-government organizations and local government units for

Mt. Malindang are on a collision course. The pouring in of close

to P1 billion into bio-diversity work in Mt. Malindang is

unprecedented, yet conflicting interests among stakeholders

threaten to water down huge gains.

Last year, Subano lumads fought it out with TVI Phils., a

Canadian-owned mining firm, in the mountains of Siocon,

Zamboanga del Norte. Subanos protested the permit

government gave to TVI Phils. to conduct gold exploration and

production on a 500 hectare land which is inside the 6,000

hectare land awarded them through a certificate of ancestral

domain claim.

Misamis Occidental's Sangguniang Panlalawigan fasttracked the

passage of an environmental code, to be used as a ''bible'' to

ensure the sustainability of the province's environment. Hernan

P. de la Cruz, H. Marcos C. Mordeno, Grace C. Albasin, Chris

V. Panganiban, Jowel F. Canuday, Alden Pantaleon, Allan A.

Nawal, Julie Alipala-Inot and Merpu P. Roa