{"id":276484,"date":"2020-11-24T05:18:12","date_gmt":"2020-11-24T10:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=276484"},"modified":"2020-11-24T05:18:12","modified_gmt":"2020-11-24T10:18:12","slug":"palace-warns-mayors-vs-coddling-illegal-loggers-miners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/11\/24\/palace-warns-mayors-vs-coddling-illegal-loggers-miners\/","title":{"rendered":"Palace warns mayors vs. coddling illegal loggers, miners"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Earlier, A\u00f1o said he had also ordered all local governments and police nationwide to start a crackdown on illegal logging and quarrying and fast-track tree planting activities. (File: ACE MORANDANTE\/ PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Tuesday asked mayors to stop being involved in illegal logging and mining operations in their towns, warning that they will have blood in their hands if they pursue activities that have environmental consequences.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this statement after Interior Secretary Eduardo A\u00f1o said that there were cases wherein mayors either directly or indirectly benefited from illegal mining and logging.<\/p>\n

\u201cIniimbestigahan nga po \u2018yan ni<\/em>\u00a0Secretary A\u00f1o (That\u2019s being investigated by Secretary A\u00f1o) and depending on the final results of the investigation,\u00a0pupuwede pong matanggal sa puwesto yung mga mayor na \u2018yan at pupuwede rin makasuhan ng kasong kriminal<\/em>\u00a0(they can be removed from their post while others could face criminal charges),\u201d he said in a Palace press briefing.<\/p>\n

Roque reminded mayors that they as public officials, should abide by the law and not violate it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell\u00a0mga<\/em>\u00a0mayors,\u00a0nandiyan po kayo diyan para ipatupad po ang batas hindi para kayo ang lumabag ng batas. Hindi po dapat ginagamit para sa negosyo ang inyong posisyon<\/em>\u00a0(To mayors, you\u2019re there to implement the law, not violate the law. You shouldn\u2019t use your position for business),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Earlier, A\u00f1o said he had also ordered all local governments and police nationwide to start a crackdown on illegal logging and quarrying and fast-track tree planting activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cNakita naman po natin ang danyos na dulot ng<\/em>\u00a0illegal logging\u00a0at<\/em>\u00a0illegal mining\u00a0lalung-lalo na diyan sa probinsya ng<\/em>\u00a0Cagayan, you will have blood in your hands\u00a0kung puprotektahan niyo po ang mga<\/em>\u00a0(We saw the damage caused by illegal logging and illegal mining especially in the province of Cagayan, you will have blood in your hands if you protect) illegal miners at illegal loggers,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He also reminded mayors to conduct upland monitoring against illegal logging and other forms of forest destruction.<\/p>\n

A\u00f1o also advised residents to be wise in voting for local officials who have no connections with anything illegal.<\/p>\n

On Nov. 15, Duterte ordered Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu to look into reports of illegal logging and mining after Cagayan Valley experienced massive flooding triggered by heavy rainfall due to Typhoon Ulysses.<\/p>\n

He lamented that despite being discussed in various meetings, \u201cnothing\u201d has been done to address illegal logging and mining in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always talk about illegal logging and mining but actually nothing has been done about it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He reiterated the need for urgent climate action, warning that poor countries like the Philippines are most affected by the effects of climate change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Tuesday asked mayors to stop being involved in illegal logging and mining operations in their towns, warning …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":275132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-276484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276484"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":276492,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276484\/revisions\/276492"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}