Lift total log ban, exporters ask govt

EXPORTERS have asked the government to lift the total log ban, which they claimed was injurious to wood-based export sectors.

In a statement, the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) on Monday said that it has submitted a position paper to Malacañang seeking “immediate suspension” of Executive Order (EO) 23, as the order “will jack up the cost of wood as a result of the actual and perceived shortage of the raw materials.”

The total log ban “will result in the loss of income and displacement of at least 10 million Filipinos that are directly or indirectly dependent on about 15,000 enterprises in the furniture and furnishings sector nationwide,” Philexport noted.

“In addition to these job losses, the government will also incur revenue losses resulting from foregone tax payments from these unemployed and business closures,” the exporters’ group said.

According to Philexport, EO 23 is “misplaced,” since “it will drive the thriving wood-based sectors out of business without being able to stop flooding as shown by the studies done by the Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO].”

The group said that “FAO studies show that it is the extremely huge volume of rainfall connected with climate change that has so far caused the calamities, in addition to the indiscriminate conversion of lands for commercial use that contributes to flooding.”

Philexport also raised “a few gray areas that need to be immediately clarified” in the guidelines of EO 23.

“For example, the forest certification system is absent. While the DENR
[Department of Environment and Natural Resources] may have the accreditation guidelines ready, the issue is the third party/private sector investor who will certify, considering the volume of business in the country,” the group said.

Philexport added that it is concerned about “possible harassment and extortion activities at checkpoints when multiple interpretations of the EO are made by enforcers because of the absence of IRR [implementing rules and regulations] or a DAO [department administrative order].

“Also, lack of or insufficient technical knowledge on plantation and imported wood species by enforcers on the road may cause delays and even confiscations if these are mistaken for the banned varieties, to the detriment of the exporter/shipper,” the exporters’ group said. –Ben Arnold O. De Vera, Manila Times

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