Misamis learns from worst floods

Misamis Occidental recovers, learns from worst disaster


Floods came rushing down towns because Mt. Malindang's forest cover had been denuded--no thanks to locals' irresponsible economic activities
SINACABAN, Misamis Occidental
--Houses are rising in Barangay Kagay-anon here, the worst damaged by the January 16 typhoon that destroyed 207 houses in the towns of Tudela, Sinacaban, and Jimenez in Misamis Occidental. It was the biggest natural disaster to hit this Northern Mindanao province in a decade, and it may have just given the locals a most crucial realization about ecological balance in their area. So along with building houses for 254 families, and trying to recover the P12-million worth of properties, crops, and livestock that the typhoon destroyed, there's another kind of reconstruction going on. Local officials are working to get more support from residents and national agencies to save the denuded forest cover of Mt. Malindang to prevent massive floods similar to what destroyed about a dozen barangays more than two months ago. Successive days of heavy rains caused the January 16 floods.
Lifeblood of a million people
With its highest peak at about 2,400 meters and spanning over 53,000 hectares, the Malindang mountain range straddles across the 17 localities of Misamis Occidental and several towns in nearby Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur. Malindang has an estimated forest cover of about 33,000 hectares; 18,000 hectares of this are mostly mossy forest. The mountain's remaining forest serves as water catchment, which in turn drains into more than a dozen major river systems in Misamis Occidental. The water supply from Malindang is enjoyed by about a million people around the Zamboanga Peninsula for agricultural, domestic, and industrial purposes. In the 1970s, three logging concessions were granted in the mountain range. Migrants started settling in the downhill areas. The Malindang Protected Area Office (PAO) said that before logging came, there used to be only 1,000 families, mostly indigenous Subanen people, in the area. Today, there are about 4,000 families.
Armed timber poachers
The increase in the number of mountain dwellers in Malindang is threatening its ecological health. These settlers live off cultivating the slopes both for cash and subsistence crops. Many of them practice of slash-and-burn farming. They also gather wood for fuel and construction of houses. The gravest threat comes from armed timber poachers, who cut trees for lumber. Poaching activities by upland residents are also done for making fishing boats and sold to fishers around the Panguil Bay area. Protected area superintendent Rolando Dingal estimates that around 15 hectares of forests are lost annually due to a combination of these activities. Environment advocate Andrew Bascon of the mountaineering group Malindang Explorers Tribe said the rate of forest loss could even be higher. He said that timber poaching activities in remotely accessible areas between Tambulig and Bonifacio towns may not have been monitored by the authorities. Dingal admitted having difficulties in law enforcement drives in these areas because Tambulig, which is part of Zamboanga del Sur, is no longer within the PAO's jurisdiction.
Annual allocation
Dingal is not complaining, however, noting that Malindang has received initial assistance from the national government. It may not be enough, he said, but it is a good start.In September 2005, President Arroyo signed Republic Act 9304, which declared Malindang as a natural park, delineating its expanse primarily into protected area covering 34,694 hectares, and buffer zone covering 18,334 hectares. The protected area is off-limits to human activity in order to preserve and develop its remaining flora and fauna. The law provides an annual allocation of P7.6 million for the management of the mountain range under the supervision of PAO. However, appropriation only started in 2007 at P4 million. Dingal noted that among more than 200 protected areas throughout the country, only Malindang has an annual allocation for protection, conservation, and development activities. He stressed, however, that the sustainability of these activities should be underpinned by local initiatives.
Foreign aid has stopped
For about a decade beginning in the 1990s, environmental management measures for Malindang were largely supported by external resources, usually development assistance from foreign governments. Notable among these were the European Union-funded National Integrated Protected Areas Program, and a Dutch-funded project aimed to strengthen the capacity of local groups to undertake sustained measures for promoting Malindang's environmental health. These projects used to shoulder a big part in the cost of maintaining a host of forest guards employed by PAO. When these initiatives phased out, local responses failed to fill in the role. This was seen in the dismal turnout of support for the "Piso-Piso Para sa Malindang" campaign that raised only more than P2,000 pesos in five years. But there were encouraging developments gained through PAO's campaign: four of 17 local government units in Misamis Occidental have financed forest guards since 2004. These are the towns of Don Victoriano, Jimenez, and Tudela, and Oroquieta City. Dingal hopes that other localities will follow the example. He also eyes soliciting the support of government agencies involved in water use, like the National Irrigation Administration and the Misamis Occidental Water District, to help raise protection and development funds for Malindang. Dingal explained that law enforcement will be a key factor in stemming the tide of timber poaching and other ecologically destructive activities in the immediate to medium term. But he stressed the more important role of securing the economic survival of hinterland dwellers in the longer-term protection of Malindang's forest resources.