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HARIBON and BirdLife (2001) describe Sibuyan as one of the small
group of islands off the north of Panay which includes the islands
of Tablas and Romblon. Primary forests cover 140 square kilometers,
which is approximately 33 percent of the land area of Sibuyan.
However, most of the lower altitude forest has
been logged or is secondary. Mount Guiting-guiting Natural Park was
established to protect these forests, which are mainly in the center
and north of the island, and covers an area of 157 kilometers out of
Sibuyan’s total area of 445 kilometers.
The park is remarkable for its
outstandingly scenic landscape with twin towering peaks set amidst
closed canopy forests. Its forests remain largely intact, and
include the entire elevational gradient from lowland dipterocarp
forest (at 200 to 900 m) and mangroves, through montane forest
(above 700 m) to mossy forest, heathland and montane grassland
around the peaks.
Sibuyan Island has attractive scenery and
considerable potential for tourism which, if regulated, can provide
its residents the livelihood that they need. Sibuyan is remarkable
for its endemic or unique flora and fauna, a result of the
island’s relative isolation since the middle to late Pleistocene.
According to Rodne Galicha of Sibuyan Against Mining, there is no
exact figure on numbers of total plant species because biologists
continue to discover species yet unidentified by the scientific
community. In one study, the National Museum identified 1,551 trees
in a single hectare, with 123 species of trees, and 54 are found
nowhere else in the world. There are estimated to be 700 vascular
plant species on the island. Nepenthes sibuyanensis, a beautiful
pitcher plant species is also endemic as its scientific name
suggests.
There are 131 species of birds, ten species of
fruit bats, and an abundance of land-dwelling mammals, reptiles, and
rodents that have yet to be fully catalogued. It is likely that
several of these birds will prove to have important populations in
the extensive forests of Mount Guiting-guiting National Park.
Several threatened and restricted-range species
have been recorded on Sibuyan. It is likely that several of these
birds will prove to have important populations in the extensive
forests of the park. Three subspecies are endemic to Sibuyan like
the Colasisi (Loriculus philippensis bournsi), Philippine
Pygmy-woodpecker (Dendrocopos maculatus menagei) and
Orange-bellied Flowerpecker (Dicaeum trigonostigma sibuyanicum),
all of which were recorded there in the early 1990s, and two more to
Sibuyan and other nearby islands. Five species of mammals (all
threatened) (one fruit bat and four rodents) are endemic to Sibuyan,
and the critically endangered fruit bat Nyctimene rabori occurs
there.
It is unfortunate that the government agency
tasked to protect our remaining natural heritage is also the same
agency that allows very destructive activities like mining and
logging. On July 27, 2007, then Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes
granted special cutting permits to Sibuyan Nickel Properties
Development Corp. to fell 5,840 trees for its right of way, 11,762
trees for its OLP ore drying area and 3,058 trees for its campsite.
On the same day he also issued cutting permits to Sun Pacific
Resources Philippines, Inc. to fell 19,714 trees and to All Acacia
Resources, Inc. to fell 29,335 trees their mining operations. All in
all, a total of 69,709 trees were sentenced to die on that day at
the stroke of a pen.
Earlier, on January 22, 2007, Reyes signed
Department Administrative Order 2007-01 that establishes the
national list of threatened Philippine plants. It lists manggachapui,
yakal and apitong as threatened and those same trees are listed in
the special cutting permits Secretary Reyes issued. The same order
says that “the collection of plants listed and/or their
by-products and derivatives shall be allowed only for scientific or
propagation purposes…” Clearly, there is something wrong; maybe
schizophrenia looms in the department. What these actions say is
that environmental protection is evidently not a priority.
Commercial mining and logging at the expense of our survival still
rule the day. The DENR’s program of planting 20 million trees is
the biggest joke in the light of these developments. But no one is
laughing.
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