DENR to issue Recovery Permit over uprooted, drifted trees
To help in the recovery of affected victims of Typhoon Frank in the provinces of Panay Islands, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Jose L. Atienza, Jr. had issued clearance for the DENR Region VI to issue Recovery Permit over the uprooted/drifted trees that were carried to the lowlands by the flashfloods for the repair of houses and other infrastructures of the local government units.
This clearance was issued and signed by DENR OIC-Secretary, Manuel B. Gerochi who immediately acted on the request of Regional Executive Director Lormelyn E. Claudio. The Memorandum signed dated June 30, 2008 stated the conditions that should be followed in granting the issuance of Recovery Permit pursuant to the procedures followed by the department in terms of environmental laws and regulations.
According to the Memorandum, the following conditions should be followed in order to avail of this benefit. The Regional Office through its PENR and CENR Offices should conduct a complete inventory of all uprooted/drifted trees in coordination with the local government units concerned. The request of the allocation of volume per family for house repair and government infrastructure shall be determined by the local government concerned in coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and DENR-PENR/CENR offices. All retrieved uprooted/drifted trees to be donated to the local government units shall be covered by a Deed of Donation.
Furthermore, the disposition and transport of the forest products shall be closely monitored by the DENR personnel concerned in coordination with civil society groups and LGUs concerned. This is to ensure that these forest products are attested to be uprooted trees/drifted trees during the flood and not freshly cut from still standing trees.
The implementation of this instruction including the authorized disposition and transport of wood products shall be conducted in sixty (60) calendar days from the date of this memorandum. All of these shall be documented and reported to the Office of the Forest Management Bureau and DENR Undersecretary for Staff Bureaus.
As of presstime, the DENR had already inventoried more or less 1,800 pieces of uprooted/drifted trees in five barangays of Cabatuan found to be still useful because they consist of hardwood species among others Lauan, Bagtikan etc., that could be used as house posts and if cut into lumber could be very appropriate for trusses, walls, and floorboards. RED Claudio had already sent copies of the Memorandum to all PENR Offices and CENR Offices for them to act accordingly.
RED Claudio further requested that LGUs concerned should immediately gather these uprooted/drifted trees in a safer place even without the presence of the DENR and request the DENR to conduct the inventory as soon as they had collected them for issuance of the necessary documents so they can fast track the use of these items. (RPAO/rac)