Aquino log ban a total flop, says PIDS study

The total log ban that former President Benigno S. Aquino III implemented under Execu­tive Order (EO) 23 was a “to­tal failure” and merely led to more corrupt practices in the logging industry, according to a study released by the Philip­pine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS).

The state think tank warned the government: “If left unchecked, there can be more potential adverse effects in the years ahead. Clearly, there is a need to redesign EO 23 and its implementation.”

“Policymakers of EO 23 planted the seed of its own defeat by not paying adequate attention to the intensification of corrupt practices they were bound to unleash,” the study said.

It added that the practic­es encouraged and enabled illegal loggers to cut trees in natural growth forests and to transport and sell them with impunity despite all the check­points.

“Meanwhile, the stricter control measures imposed after the issuance of EO 23, ironically, penalized socially responsible commercial tree planters and private organi­zations practicing sustain­able forest management,” the study said.

EO 23, an across-the-board ban on logging signed by Aquino in 2011, meant to protect the country’s natural forests.

The PIDS study said the order not only failed to achieve its objectives of reversing the trend of deforestation in the country but also caused “dam­aging unintended economic and social consequences,” including the disruption of wood-process­ing enterprises and the increase in corrupt practices in the wood industry, the study noted.

PIDS Visiting Research Fellow Vic Paqueo and Senior Research Fellow Danilo Israel, who wrote the PIDS paper, said “policymakers of EO 23 and its implementation rules underes­timated the power of increased corruption that the order would unleash.”

The previous leadership did not foresee the creation of “lu­crative opportunities and incen­tives” that lead to bribery and corruption among key players during the implementation of the total log ban, the study said.

“EO 23 has failed to achieve its objective of stopping the cut­ting of trees in the natural growth and residual forests,” it said.

The study added that the edict also adversely impacted on the timber and wood processing industry “within a relatively short time of five years of implementa­tion.”

Paqueo and Israel said the strength of institutional capac­ities and law enforcement, and the incidences of corruption and collusion can be viewed through the lens of “deep-rooted social issues.”

“Inequalities in land ten­ure, discrimination against in­digenous people and their land rights, subsistence farming, and the poor and the marginalized all, too, have a stake in the de­sign and implementation of log­ging-related policies,” both add­ed.

To substantiate their claims, Paqueo and Israel summarized the key impacts of EO 23 in the logging and wood industry-de­pendent region of Caraga.

Since its implementation, the number of wood-processing enterprises in Caraga fell from 119 in 2010 to 27 at present.

There has also been a re­corded increase in corruption and rent-seeking activities be­tween government regulators and associations, the study said.

“The cost of fees to trans­port wood through checkpoints and the overloading fees at weighbridges have surged,” it added.

Concurrently, the costs of doing business have also in­creased. The cost of production on the side of the suppliers and the direct cost for consumers and downstream industries have made the logging and wood in­dustry sector uncompetitive.

“Corollary to that,” the au­thors noted, “rural livelihoods of small-scale timber production were seriously affected as they were invariably unable to comply with the required paperwork to legally operate.”

The study said EO 23 has “discouraged the practice of and investment in private tree planting as it may create the un­certainty that planters may not be able to harvest the trees they plant.”

Inadvertently, this has re­sulted in a shift in the resource management of forest land, from the practice of common inte­grated systems of logging to the common access mode of days bygone, the study said.

As an alternative to the current policy, the study recom­mended a more holistic and re­alistic approach.

A “sustainable, effective and economically sensible” strategy must meet the needs of both conservation efforts and the in­dustries that rely on logging.

The study recommended focusing resources on “on-site inspection activities at two sites only: at the forests to be protect­ed and at the woo-processing plants”.

Outside of these, highway checkpoints should be removed from the model, it added.

The study suggested that policymakers should also “do away with registration, inventory, and permit requirements” for the harvest and transport of trees as they do more harm than good by increasing rent extraction.

The PIDS research paper also recommended that poli­cymakers look into expanding the available commercial trees and shifting the responsibility of regulation from the Department of Environment and Natural Re­sources (DENR) to the Depart­ment of Trade and Industry (DTI), where the economic facets will be better understood.

It underscored a “coalition” built on “informed ideas and en­lightened self-interest” to enable the true pursuit of a “successful and sustainable development agenda.”

Likewise, it encouraged stakeholders from all sectors to come together and develop a comprehensive approach that safeguards their sources of liveli­hood from depletion and acts in the interest of all with regard to ecological conservation.

LUIS LEONCIO