The government is considering a partial logging ban instead of prohibiting all timber operations across the country.
Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said a new government body is expected to create a map to identify the areas where tree-cutting operations would be allowed or not.
“The tripartite convergence committee will study the permits and create a map to indicate where logging may be totally banned and where logging may be allowed,” Abella said in a statement.
Abella said logging operations may be allowed in industrial farms where trees are cultured for use as furniture and other wood-based industries. “The President also raised his concern for indigenous farmers who used wood for their domestic use,” he added.
The President earlier ordered the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Interior and Local Government to form a committee to craft the guidelines on the logging ban in the country. Abella had said the tripartite convergence committee would “discuss details of a total log ban in order to protect our watersheds.”
The President, in a recent Climate Change Commission en banc meeting, told Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Gina Lopez to “stop all logging operations with no exemptions.”
Duterte issued the directive after expressing concern over the recent massive floods in northern Mindanao reportedly due to the unabated logging in the area. (Genalyn D. Kabiling)