Landslides, a permanent planetary problem

The village of Guinsaugon in Saint Bernard, Southern Leyte is now being described as a whole international tent city because of the way the world has responded to help the victims of a landslide that has entombed over 1,400 people. Actually, landslides are a world problem. In the United States, for instance, they have had landslides in all 50 states. The most susceptible regions are the coastal and mountainous areas of California, Oregon and Washington, the states comprising the intermountain west, and the mountainous and hilly sections of the Eastern United States. Even Alaska and Hawaii have also undergone landslides.

In the Philippines, the main cause of landslides is the slope saturation by water, meaning continuous heavy rainfall. But what makes the area truly susceptible to landslides is deforestation. The worst part is that it is illegal logging that is causing the deforestation. The tragedy here is that the identity of the persons who have engaged in illegal logging is known in the area, but, to date, no one has ever been charged, prosecuted or convicted for illegal logging. They should be publicly exposed.

Senate Minority Leader Aquino Pimentel Jr. has proposed a 25-year total ban on logging operations. He cited an environmental department report that pointed out that only 15 provinces in the entire country have forest covers of more than 50 percent of its land area. He has also urged the Integrated Bar of the Philippines to sue the illegal loggers that laid the groundwork for the Leyte landslide. We don’t believe we need more laws to put a stop to illegal logging. All we have to do is to implement our existing laws against illegal logging. If illegal logging is rampant, it is because our existing laws are not being implemented. Passing more laws will mean just having more unimplemented laws.

What should be done first of all is to expose the illegal loggers and demand that they be prosecuted. Our government must be one run by laws. There was a time that when people talked about landslides, they were referring to landslides in the Kennon Road leading to Baguio. Now, they are happening in areas where the forests were illegally denuded. The first thing we should protect is our environment. It is what will determine our whole future. What we need is not only a 25-year total logging ban, more vital is reforestation!

According to reports, the Philippines has lost 14 million hectares of forests. It is good to know that the Philippines and the US signed an agreement on Sept. 19, 2002 to place the 8.25 million dollars in interests payment for our debts in a fund that will support an aggressive reforestation effort. We hope that the Philippine Tropical Forest Construction Foundation which has been tasked to handle the fund will put this to appropriate use.