THE NOV. 14 issue of the Inquirer carried a news item about the communist rebels that attacked the camp of Surigao Development Corp. (Sudecor), in Lanuza, Surigao del Sur and had an encounter with government troops in the area. The report also said that the attack was meant to stop what the guerillas call an ?environmentally destructive logging operation in the area.? It quoted a certain Maria Malaya, a rebel spokesperson, as saying that the Sudecor raid was not the last attack against ?abusive logging companies destroying the environment.? These statements, though coming from rebel groups, may create in the public mind misconceptions about the company?s sound and sustainable forest operations.

As a forestry expert, I have been involved for so many years in several foreign-assisted projects to showcase the sustainable forest operations of Sudecor. I wish to clarify that its TLA (timber license agreement) area has been managed for the past 50 years as a model forest operation. The government can attest that Sudecor has complied with the provisions under its forest agreement with the Philippine government?particularly on the matter of practicing sustainable forest management (SFM).

Sudecor has gained national and international recognition as a model of sustainable forest production, consistent with the uneven-aged tropical forest management scheme of government. The TLA area has been the site of several completed/on-going foreign-funded government projects to showcase SFM and its components on the ground.

As an example of the TLA?s sound forest operation, I quote Dr. Rex Victor O. Cruz, dean of the University of the Philippines Los Baños-College of Forestry and Natural Resources, who, as a watershed expert, affirmed in a foreign-funded project conducted in the area that ?The Sudecor concession ... is a living testimony to the reality of sustainable forest resources amid development. It demonstrates that the forest has astounding ability to regenerate itself after certain degrees of perturbations only if a committed and conscientious forest management sustains the flow of goods and services from the forest to society. ... Sudecor ... affirms the soundness of the selective logging system once properly implemented.?

Contrary to the rebel?s statements and based on my professional experience, it is clear that Sudecor?s TLA management has not in any way caused forest destruction and damage to the environment. Scientific studies conducted by other local and foreign forest experts in the operation area have also concluded that the TLA has contributed significantly to SFM, biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation, reduced impact logging and collaborative management with forest stakeholders. The Sudecor forests have been managed as a perpetual renewable resource for all generations to benefit from.

?RICARDO M. UMALI,

president and international consultant,

Sustainable Ecosystems International Inc., QC