As Congress´ debate on logging laws comes to a close, priests and lay Church workers in Mindanao continue to be harassed for their anti-logging advocacy.
Father Enrico Montano, Social Action Director of Dipolog diocese, 700 kilometers southeast of Manila, told UCA News that Father Atilano Tabaranza and two lay workers were confronted by Mayor Rudy Clamohoy of Sergio Osmena town, 30 kilometers south of Dipolog.
Father Tabaranza, parish priest of Sergio Osmena, reportedly caught the ire of the mayor after he named Clamohoy as one of the town´s illegal loggers.
According to Father Montano, Father Tabaranza and lay workers Cesar Malinao and Roberto Guaton were resting along a road last Dec. 29 when the mayor´s jeep passed by.
Father Tabaranza claims the vehicle turned back and intentionally bumped and damaged his motorcycle on the roadside. The mayor and his men gave them "dagger looks" before leaving, he added.
Father Montano told UCA News Clamohoy has been the target of environmentalists and Church workers critical of illegal logging in the town´s hinterlands.
The logging areas are declared ancestral land of the "Subanon" (people of the river) tribe, the biggest non-Muslim ethnic tribe in the country.
Father Tabaranza´s exposes led to questions about 21,310 board feet of illegally cut logs in a stockpile area owned by Clamohoy.
A raid was conducted by the priest, agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Philippine army, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and representatives of non-government organizations last Oct. 10.
Formal illegal logging charges were filed against Clamohoy Jan. 6.
Father Montano said the incident "was only one of the many other forms of harassment" against Father Tabaranza.
From Bukidnon, 20 kilometers east of Dipolog, Bishop Gaudencio Rosales of Malaybalay appealed to legislators in Manila for a total log ban.
"Selective logging is like deciding how to comb hair when one is nearly bald," Bishop Rosales said in a Dec. 30 letter to the Lower House.
"The obvious option left is to stop the cutting of hair and to allow hair and scalp to recover," he added.
He explained that the total log ban need only be effective long enough to revive destroyed forests.
Bishop Rosales reminded congressmen that the country´s remaining forest cover is in a critical state of less than 22 percent, and he urged legislators to stop the destruction as they returned in January for their last session.
A bicameral committe created by both the Lower House, which passed a bill advocating selective logging, and the Senate, which favors a total log ban, was expected to agree on a final version of the bill by the end of January.
Congressman Artemio Adaza of Zamboanga del Norte told UCA News Jan. 24, "I am optimistic for a compromise on a 10-12 year total log ban."
Last Oct. 14 in Malaybalay diocese, Father Nerylito Satur, a critic of illegal logging, was shot dead, reportedly by hit men employed by an illegal logger.
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