House okays bill imposing life imprisonment on illegal loggers
By Jess Diaz , The Philippine Star
January 04, 2012

 MANILA, Philippines – The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill seeking the imposition of life imprisonment on illegal loggers.

Under the proposed Sustainable Forest Management Act, harvesting, gathering or collecting timber or other forest products from any forestland with a market value of more than P500,000 and without authority from the Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) would be illegal and punishable with life imprisonment.

Those who buy logs, flitches and lumber from illegal loggers will also suffer the same penalty.

Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, principal author of the proposed law, said he hoped that with such a heavy penalty on offenders, the destruction of watersheds and other forested areas and the resulting flooding of low-lying communities will be minimized.

In a related development, Rodriguez and his brother Maximo, who represents the party-list group Abante Mindanao, filed on Monday Bill 5663, which seeks the appropriation of P2 billion for the rebuilding of Cagayan de Oro City and Iligan City after these were devastated by tropical storm “Sendong” recently.

In filing the bill, the two said residents of the two cities need state help “to be able to recover from the recent tragedy and start a new life.”

“In the short term, there is a need to provide basic necessities to the evacuees including food and non-food items and a way to give them access to proper hygiene. Also, debris cleanup is a priority as well as provisions for temporary shelter before school and classes resume,” they said.

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