Fw: [kilusang99] URGENT CALL FOR MORE SIGNATORIES re Statement to Save Pangasinan Trees [1 Attachment]

[Nebeb]

On Saturday, February 1, 2014 10:43 PM, Greenresearch <greenrese...@gmail.com> wrote:

 

SAVE THOSE PRECIOUS 1,829 TREES

An Urgent Appeal to Prevent Destruction of Trees in Pangasinan

 

(January 25, 2014)

 

 

OUR COUNTRY TODAY FACES AN UNPRECEDENTED ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS in no small measure caused by human neglect, greed, and indifference. We have witnessed with horror the aftermath of Ondoy, Sendong, Pablo, and super typhoon Yolanda. The Philippines is ranked 3^rd most vulnerable country to natural hazards ⁽United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security, 2012), and 14^th among the most affected countries by adverse impact of climate change ⁽German Watch 2013, Global Climate Risk Index).   The recent mega-disasters have demonstrated our country’s increasing environmental vulnerability to the effects of climate change and our rapidly deteriorating environment and natural resources.

 

The recent massive destruction of trees in Pangasinan  indicates  that  the lessons learned from these environmental tragedies have been lost on the  leadership of the present Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). It has failed to make the  necessary shift towards a sustainable development paradigm that puts a premium on the protection of the environment and natural resources over the pursuit of  monetary profits and other short-term economic gains.    

 

As concerned citizens of this country, we demand that the  DENR remain true to its  mandate, aligning itself  with the long-term and interrelated  goals of  mitigating the effects of climate change and  preserving our fragile environment and natural resources for present and  future generations. We strongly affirm that the DENR has failed us in this regard. It has not proactively worked to find a way to prevent the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)’s  destruction of Pangasinan’s  natural heritage with its infrastructure road widening project.  The mass destruction of Pangasinan’s trees gives another strong empirical evidence that  President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III and our country  have been ill-served by the DENR Sec. Ramon Paje and his leadership team.

 

Furthermore, President Aquino’s  Executive Order No. 23  declaring a national moratorium on cutting of timber in natural and residual forests and establishing the Anti-Illegal Task Force (AILTF)  has been severely undermined not only by  Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa, Jr.'s signed memorandum about the additional exemptions in the ban,  but also by related key decisions pushed by the present DENR leadership team.

.    

We lament the irreversible death of  many decades-old trees as a sacrifice for the DPWH’s Manila North Road (MNR) widening project that traverses the municipalities from Rosales to Sison in Pangasinan.  

 

We are enraged that the DENR, the lead government agency tasked to conserve, protect, and rehabilitate  the Philippine environment  gave its  imprimatur  for the  massive  destruction of trees  through its Special Tree Cutting and Earth-Balling Permit No. 2013-10  issued in November 2013. 

 

 

 

 

 

The permit targets cutting  one thousand eight hundred twenty nine (1,829) trees in the six  Pangasinan municipalities of Sison, Pozzorubio,  Binalonan, Urdaneta, Villasis, and Rosales.    During the recent national  holidays, travellers on their way to Baguio or the Ilocos were greeted with the deplorable  sight of  hundreds of felled  trees by the roadside.

 

We want to save the remaining trees still standing and to prevent  such other onslaughts on our priceless natural environment.

 

The special permit signed by the Regional Executive Director (RED) of DENR’s Region 1 states that a clearance was given by the DENR Central Office’s leadership. The special tree cutting permit was, ironically, printed on DENR stationary with the footer “Join the National Greening Program, Plant Trees.”  Instead of planting and protecting trees, the DENR has facilitated  their destruction.

 

It is appalling that the negative implications of this massive government tree-cutting for the MNR  widening  and other DPWH projects  are being rationalized or toned down by President Aquino’s billion-peso-funded lead reforestation program mandating that “every tree cut shall be replaced by planting 100 seedlings preferably of indigenous tree species . . . in support of the National  Greening Program (NGP) and climate change initiatives of the government.”  Both the DENR and DPWH seem to miss a glaring reality—that seedlings to replace the hundreds of trees cut will need decades to grow to the size of the full-grown trees destroyed. And in all those decades we shall be reaping the illnesses that those precious  full-grown trees would have prevented or healed.

 

These agencies have glossed over the fact that trees lining  the national highway along Pangasinan have all these years helped trap the poisonous greenhouse gasses responsible for global warming and climate change. They have furthermore not only provided cooling, shade, and oxygen for residents and motorists along the highway,  but have also brought water to underground aquifers and have minimized the impact of floods by preventing erosion and sedimentation.

 

We ask the concerned  government agencies to stop further cutting, harming, injuring, earth-balling or  transferring of the remaining  trees planted along the stretch of  the Manila North Road in Pangasinan. 

           

We also hope and pray that  President  Aquino  and our green champions in the Senate will  order  a comprehensive probe of  the implementation of  E.O. 23,  and at this time  especially of  the   controversial tree-cutting permit issued by the DENR for DPWH’s  MNR widening project and the processes related to its  Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC), as well as  the illegal logging in 2012  by an alleged DPWH contractor in  the Mangatarem forests.

           

Hindi natin dapat payagan  na maging  imahen  ang maraming  patay na puno sa loob ng kagubatan at pati na sa gilid ng highway -- bilang halimbawa o simbolo  ng  “Matuwid na Daan.”  Bagkus, sama-sama tayong magtaya at  magkapit-bisig  para itaguyod ang Matuwid na Daan patungo sa Makakalikasang Pag-unlad ng ating Inang Bayan. 

 

Appeal signed this 25^th day of January 2014,  by

 

 

SAVE THOSE PRECIOUS 1,829 TREES

An Urgent Appeal to Prevent Destruction of Trees in Pangasinan

 

Angelina P. Galang, Ph.D.

President

GREEN CONVERGENCE for Safe Food, Healthy Environment, and Sustainable Economy

 

Bishop. Broderick Pabillo

Head, Committee on Public Affairs - CBCP

Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines

 

Fr. Edwin A. Gariguez

Executive Secretary

National Secretariat for Social Action,  Justice and Peace (CBCP-NASSA)

 

Fr. Robert Reyes, OFM

Running Priest and Anthropologist

Isabela

Fr. Joel Tabora, S.J.

President

Ateneo de Davao University

 

Emy Perez

Social development specialist

Municipality of Pozorrubio, Pangasinan

 

Norman V. Cabrera

President

Kapatiran Party

 

Esther M. Pacheco

President

Concerned Citizens Advocating Philippine Environmental Sustainability (COCAP)

 

Antonio Claparols

President

Ecological Society of the Philippines (ESP)

 

Patria Gwen M.L. Borcena, M.A.

President

Greenresearch Environmental Research Group 

 

Atty.Galahad A. Pe Benito

Environmental Legal Counsel

Greenresearch Environmental Research Group 

 

Atty. Francisco S. Yabut

Founding President

Public Interest Law of Angeles City (PILAC)

 

Cecile Yumul

Spokesperson

Save the Trees (STC -Pampanga)

 

Javier Claparols

Board

Ecological Society of the Philippines (ESP)

 

Rene D. Pineda, Jr.

President

Partnership for Clean Air (PCA) Inc.

 

Victoria Segovia

Executive Director

Philippine Clean Air (PCA)

 

Gigi Chua

President

Consumer Rights for Safe Food (CRSF)

 

Erlie Lopez

Member

Consumer Rights for Safe Food (CRSF)

 

Merci Ferrer

Director

Health Care Without Harm Asia

 

Shen Maglinte

Deputy Director

Sibol na Agham at Teknolohiya, Inc. (SIBAT)

 

Monina Geaga

Secretary General

Kasarian - Kalayaan  (Sarilaya)

 

Jaybee Garganera

National Coordinator

Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM)

 

Bro. Martin Francisco, bsmp

Chairperson

Sagip Sierra Madre Environmental Society, Inc. (SSMESI)

 

Juju Galvez Tan
Chief Operating Officer
Fostering People's Education, Empowerment and Enterprise, Inc. (FPE3)

Rodne Galicha

Executive Director

Sibuyan Island Sentinels League for Environment Inc (Sibuyan ISLE Inc.)

The Climate Reality Project - Philippines Climate Leaders

 

Fernando M. Ramirez

Manager

Program Development Unit

Foundation for the Philippine Environment (FPE)

 

Eric Manalang

President

ProLife Phlippines Foundation Inc.

 

Teddy Brul

National Vice President

Socialista

 

Renato Dela Cruz,

National President

Aniban ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (AMA)

 

Resurreccion Lao
Executive Director

Economic, Cultural and Social Rights  (ECSR –Asia)

 

Dr. Nymia Pimentel Simbulan

Executive Director

Philippine Human Rights Information Center (PHLRIGHTS)

 

Max M. de Mesa

Chairperson

Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) 

 

Sammy Gamboa

OIC, Office of the Secretary General

Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC)

 

Perla A. Visorro

Cagayan Valley Partners in People Development (CAVAPPED)

 

Yoly R Esguerra
National Coordinator 

Philippine Misereor Partnership Inc. 

 

Genevieve Balance-Kupang, Ph.D.

President, Saint Paul Compound, Homeowners Association

Institutional Researcher, St. Paul College, Pasig

Core Group Officer, Mandala Peace Arts Initiative Inc. and Ang Komunidad Para sa Ika-uunlad ng Tao, Inc.

 

Emma Porio, Ph.D.

Sociologist

Chair, Environment Committee

Alta Vista Village Homeowners and Residents Association

 

Rex Arcadio R. San Diego II

Head Teacher-III, English Department

Ismael Mathay Sr. High School

 

Anna Marie Baligod - San Diego

Education Program Specialist-II

Bureau of Secondary Education, Department of Education Central Office  

 

Sr. Eden L. Orlino, SPC

Social Action Commission 

Diocese of Bayombong

Ellen Teague

Columban Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Office

London, United Kingdom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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