The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is now building an “airtight case” against Ipilan Nickel Corp. for the reported “massacre of trees” within a mineral production sharing agreement (MPSA) area in Brooke’s Point, Palawan.
On Tuesday Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu held a case briefing with top DENR officials to discuss possible legal actions against Ipilan.
“The secretary wants to make an example of Ipilan,” the source said, who spoke on condition of anonymity, and added that it will be “all hands on deck” that will require the expert opinion of all DENR officials, including heads of DENR line and staff bureaus.
During the meeting, the source said the media-shy Cimatu even asked DENR’s legal experts if it is possible for him to be the plaintiff in a case to be filed by the DENR.
“He was advised not to [stand as the plaintiff of the case] because if he does, he will be obliged to attend court hearings,” the source said.
Almost all DENR undersecretaries and assistant secretaries attended the meeting, some of whom are legal experts, debating on the issue of Ipilan’s alleged violations in connection with the reported massacre of trees.
Ipilan is a subsidiary of Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc. (FNI), one of the world’s top nickel exporter and the country’s largest producer of nickel.
Dante Bravo, president and executive director of FNI, declined to comment. “We don’t want to comment on that for the time being in deference to their [DENR’s] ongoing investigation,” Bravo said in a text message.
A DENR undersecretary corroborated the report, but said the case buildup against Ipilan is still on-going. The source, who also declined to be identified, added the consensus was to let the DENR-Community Environment and Natural Resource Office (Cenro) in Brooke’s Point file the case.
“Whether it is a central office, regional office or Cenro can file a case. But based on our regular procedures, it should be the Cenro that should file the case for violation of PD 705, a 1975 law signed by former President Ferdinand E. Marcos that revised PD [Presidential Decree] 389, or the Forestry Reform Code of the Philippines”.
The DENR secretary, the source added, does not want to lose the legal battle against Ipilan if they proceed with the filing of the case in court. “The company is not a small company, and we will face a pool of highly paid lawyers, that is why the secretary wants to build a strong case, to make sure that we will win,” the source added.
The source said initial findings by the DENR-Cenro and regional office show that Ipilan illegally cut hundreds of trees in areas outside its supposed tree-cutting permit, hence a case of illegal logging will be filed.
The DENR is discussing the possibility of canceling the environmental compliance certificate (ECC) and other mining permits issued to Ipilan, including its MPSA, on account of the illegal cutting of trees.
“We are also discussing the nitty-gritty about that, too. We don’t really want to be hasty,” the source said in Filipino.
The cancellation of mining permits, the source added, rests upon the mandates of the Environmental Management Bureau for ECC, while other permits related to actual mining, such as exploration, which is the status of Ipilan’s mining project in Brooke’s Point, rests upon the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.
“Dalawang klase kasi ang kaso na nag emanate. PD 705 illegal cutting. They cut the trees in areas where they are not supposed to cut. They have no cutting permit so the case is illegal logging,” the source said. The other case is for violation of the mining law.
“Even in an area covered by MPSAs, the mining company should secure tree-cutting permit. There should be an inventory. And during the tree-cutting activities, there should be a representative from the DENR and local government unit [LGU],” the source said.
Environmental groups have denounced Ipilan for cutting “century-old” trees within its MPSAs, and argued that even if it plants 100 tree seedlings for every 100-year-old tree would not justify the massacre of trees, it especially if the area is a virgin forest.
Last month the DENR has started hauling the felled trees.
A total of 34 forestry officers and workers—18 from the DENR regional office and 16 from Palawan provincial government—have been deployed to Ipilan mining area in Brooke’s Point town to do an inventory and retrieve the felled trees, which have been declared government property.
Based on initial reports, Ipilan cut down some 7,000 trees within 30 hectares of land within the MPSA programmed for mining operations for years 1 and 2, and for development of road network covering an area of 52.15 hectares.
A majority of the felled trees are reportedly premium native species, such as malabayabas, apitongbaboy, nato and agoho, DENR-Mimaropa Regional Director Natividad Bernardino said.