Email

Print

Courtney Weatherburne reporting
Under the mid-morning sun, a choir of Barranco residents circled the assembly building…. then the Prime Minister's office.

Hoping that the solid beat of their drums over ancestral songs will get their message across - a message of community. But the livelihood of that community is under threat. The villagers say they are not being given the opportunity to log in their own forest area while non-residents are being granted concessions and reaping all the benefits from the land. It is an issue that has been plaguing the residents for many years and they have had enough.

Beatrice Mariano, Vice Chairperson, Village Council
"Enough is enough, this is the breaking point, yes."

"Our concerns were about the extensive logging happening in Barranco. The Forest was being heavily depleted and mostly it was being done by people who were granted licenses from outside Barranco, these are non-residents from all over the place."

"These people apparently don't need any recommendations from the council for them to get these concessions."

"This is a concern to the Barranco people because it has been happening for years with no benefit to the community."

According to Fabian Cayetano, this is not in line with the November 2017 agreement between the Barranco Village council and the Forestry department which states that the village council has to sign off on concession applications, and that only Barranco residents should benefit from logging in the forest area. The residents say that is not the case at all.

Fabian Cayetano, Barranco Resident
"How the agreements have just been disrespected out rightly and dismissed, hence we come to fight for respect."

And so they did - after the protest, the village leaders met with Chief Forest Officer Wilbur Sabido. The residents stated their demands and it seems they made headway.

Fabian Cayetano, Barranco Resident
"The 5 applicants want the following things to happen, 1. We want to know why our 5 applications were rejected and not a word from the Ministry of Forestry and fisheries to us with an explanation, point 2, We the 5 rejected Barranco logging concession applicants request the approval of our logging concession applications with the licenses for 2 logging seasons October 15th 2018 to June 15th 2020, point 3 to apply to the Ministry of Forestry and fisheries as an indigenous people to manage the entire Barranco forest area from the Moho river to the northern banks of the Sarstoon river to do re-forestation and the sustainable logging and eco-tourism to generate economic activity and jobs for our people."

"It has now been acknowledged that two of the concessions were already issued. The concession for Mr. Leslie Colon and for Mr. Rash, they were issued to one Mr. Blanco from Boom Creek. The other 3 are pending."

"There is finally cooperation, there is finally response in this area."

So at this point the concession applications from the Barranco residents are being considered. It is a step in the right direction, but the villagers will not back down until they reclaim their community.

As you heard, the logging license applications from 2 of the Barranco residents are being considered while the 3 others are pending. So, none have been officially granted. Cayetano says that the Forestry Department will get back to them on these licenses. Another important issue Cayetano says needs to be addressed is the management of the forest area, the residents ultimately want to manage their forest area so the residents can directly benefit because they say a lot needs to be done to uplift the village when it comes to roads, other infrastructural works and jobs. We will keep following this story.