MANILA – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has gone the way of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in dealing with officials found to have been involved in unabated illegal logging throughout the country.
Effective immediately, Secretary Lito Atienza, the DENR chief, announced he would implement the “one strike” policy against DENR regional executive directors confirmed to have been with cahoots with illegal loggers.
The policy means that the official concerned will either be dismissed, suspended or reassigned to another position, Atienza explained.
The new DENR policy stands in sharp contrast to the “three strike policy” being implemented by the PNP in disciplining its officers and men found to have allowed “gambling lords,” particularly those running the lucrative illegal numbers game “jueteng” to operate in their areas of jurisdiction.
Earlier, however, reliable PNP sources lamented that the PNP policy was honored more in breach than in implementation as they pointed out that jueteng still exists in many parts of the country.
The sources, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal, disclosed that jueteng remains a problem because it has become a major source of corruption to politicians and the policemen themselves.
Politicians, in cahoots with unscrupulous police officers, also allow jueteng maintainers to operate in their areas to accumulate campaign funds needed to boost their chances in the coming May 2010 elections, the sources added.
Environmentalists also said they are taking a “wait-and-see” stance in the case of Atienza at the DENR.
Environmentalists pointed out that Atienza announced the new policy following rising demands for his resignation for his alleged failure to stop illegal logging, particularly in Quezon province in Southern Luzon as well as in Aurora province in Central Luzon and Isabela province, Cagayan Valley in the Northern Luzon highlands.
Despite the doubts raised, Atienza insisted he would implement the policy especially if there are verified complaints of illegal logging in areas under the jurisdiction of the DENR regional directors.
“Illegal logging cannot happen if it is not known by the DENR field personnel,” Atienza emphasized.
To ensure its implementation, Atienza said he ordered the regional directors to include in their weekly reports to his office any illegal logging activities in their areas.
He pointed out that if illegal logging continues to exist in their areas despite its absence in their reports, this means that the DENR directors are part of the problem.
In this light, the DENR secretary stressed that his regional officials will not only exercise authority but also observe accountability.
But Atienza clarified that his policy not only covers illegal logging but also illegal mining as well as the degradation of water bodies that tend to worsen the country’s environmental problems as they affect its dwindling natural resources.
He cited as example his decision to reshuffle DENR regional and provincial officials in Southern Luzon following verified complaints from a Roman Catholic Church-based environmental group that illegal logging never stopped in Quezon.
The officials were found to have been negligent, lax and irresponsible for the complaints, so they were included in the reshuffle, Atienza explained.
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