Abusing the mountains

The filing of charges against Consolacion Mayor Avelino Gungob for cutting down trees in timberland area and dumping filling materials there will test whether the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Central Visayas (DENR-7) has the backbone to pursue the case to a final resolution.

That, and the case against unscrupulous persons selling watershed land in barangay Tabunan, Cebu City.

The agency through its sub-agencies like the Bureau of Mines and Geosciences have been reminding the mayor about his illegal quarrying activities for some time, even going to the extent of elevating the matter to Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia.

But as seen in the filing of charges against Gungob, it seemed the mayor didn’t back down and even continued to pursue cutting trees in timberland area. While some local officials rarely get cowed by national government agencies, it would have been better if the DENR enforced the law more firmly to remind the mayor not to run his greedy hands over the uplands of his town.

The mayor assured that the tree-cutting of trees and dumping of mountain soil stopped a long time ago. But if memory serves, Gungob agreed to stop quarrying only to resume them with the help of some partner companies with the excuse that he was implementing a land development project there.

Meanwhile, the cases filed against land sellers in sitio Cantipla, barangay Tabunan underscore the struggle of the DENR’s reforestation agreement with former police general Tiburcio Fusilero.

True, parts of the timberland area have been regreened, but if people are willing to illegaly sell land “rights” for commercial and private use, what’s to prevent them from allowing activities and structures that upset reforestation activties in the first place?

Add to that the hostility of farmer residents who claim to have lived in the land for several generations . This leaves the DENR in a situation where the preservation of timberland areas is compromised by a few rich parties and opposed by farmer residents who could have been tapped to help protect the area.

The filing of charges may not be enough. The enforcement of environment laws should include plugging loopholes which allow the acquisition of public land.

This refers to questionable tax declarations issued to occupants in the mountains, who use the document to “sell” their property, which can never be titled. The DENR should be asking Cebu City Hall why these tax declarations are issued in the first place.

Otherwise people will see more of the same sales of inalienable public land to rich folk and not enough action being done to regulate land use of occupants or to protect a thinning forest cover in order to ensure Metro Cebu’s source of drinking water.