Rescind the DENR Order to Resume Logging Operation in Samar

A Joint Pastoral Statement of the Bishops and Clergy of Samar and Leyte
December 2, 2005

“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?...Tend my sheep,” (John 21:15, 16).

As pastors of the Lord’s flock we have the responsibility to listen to his voice in the cry of the least of his brothers and sisters. No less than that is our duty to care for the earth, even as we humbly strive to imitate Him who looks after the “birds in the sky” and the “lilies of the field” to express his greater love for his people (Mt 6:26, 28).

Moved by this unparalleled love of the Lord for his flock, we, the Bishops of Samar and Leyte, with the concurrence of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Palo and his Auxiliary, together with our respective Clergies, petition the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, Michael T. Defensor, to rescind his August 15, 2005 Order allowing San Jose Timber Corporation to pursue logging operations in Samar Island.

There are vital reasons behind our common stand.

1. In our judgment rescinding the DENR Order is a demand of the people’s welfare. That welfare, after all, is the highest law (salus populi suprema lex). As long as the specter of destruction to life, livelihood and property, to a balanced and wholesome ecosystem is poised on them by the imminent loss of critical forest cover and watershed, our people will not be helped even financial or economic gain. In fact, material benefits alone do not determine our people’s welfare because even financial and economic considerations cannot supersede such other vital human concerns as our people’s security, spiritual and moral health, among others. Working for our people’s true welfare means respecting our peoples’ true nature; for we not only have bodies but spirits as well. Physically and spiritually, we need our forest cover intact and healthy.

2. The issuance of the Order came in the wake of a morally compromised situation: two public officials sharing favors that seem mutually related to one another. A Senator of the Republic helping to confirm the appointment of a DENR Secretary who himself issues an Order allowing the Senator’s logging company to operate again clearly does not at all inspire confidence in the absence of political trade-off between powerful people at the expense of Samar Island and its hapless people. Nor is it even tolerated by Article 6, Section 14 of the 1987 Constitution which bans Senators and Members of the House of Representatives from being “directly or indirectly interested financially in any contract with, or any franchise or special privilege granted by the Government, or any subdivision, agency, or instrumentality thereof, including any government-owned or controlled corporation, or its subsidiary, during his term of office. He shall not intervene in any matter before any office of the government for his pecuniary benefit or where he may be called upon to act on account of his office.” Rescinding the Order, therefore, rights a wrong and rekindles hope. It will, moreover, prove the seriousness of the government’s thrust against even a semblance of graft.

3. The DENR decision stands on the wrong side of the moral equation. For example, the Order champions the supposed “prior rights” of one public official and one corporation but tramples under foot the “more prior” native rights of the people of Samar Island. The Order keeps alive a business but it threatens the very survival of peoples and very precious flora and fauna: 80% of Samar’s old growth forest, Samar’s critical watershed, 2,400 acknowledged rare species of blooms, 197 species of birds, 25 species of reptiles and 12 amphibians. A corporation’s right to exist and to operate had been deemed more important than the survival of lowland farmers and their families or even of the Philippine Eagle whose biggest number is in Samar Island, the Philippine Hawk Eagle and the Philippine Cockatoo.

4. The DENR Order has set the clock back on social justice in the country. Social inequity in the Philippines can hardly be uprooted overnight. But it is powerfully given a boost by the Order. A corporation owned by a member of the country’s elite is now allowed to rake in more wealth for itself while the masses of Samar’s poor will only eke out of the crumbs and may even lose the little that they have of Samar’s God-give natural wealth. The Church which sees the advancement of social justice as duly constitutive of the preaching of the gospel (Justice in the World, no. 21) cannot merely view this state of things and let it be. She must raise her voice and say no.

5. St. Augustine used to say, “Love and do what you will (Arma et fac quiod vis!) That is what we are called to do primarily as Disciples of Jesus Christ! Let us love our God who has given us the earth and everything in it! But let us especially love our people and do what we must: save their forests and save our patrimony!

We urge the government and especially Secretary Michael T. Defensor to do the same. Look beyond mere political and economic accommodations: Truly love the people and serve their welfare! How? Rescind the August 15, 2005 DENR Order allowing commercial logging in Samar Island!

May Mary, the Mother of the Savior, intercede for us and our worthy cause!