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Illegal Logging in Mindanao
(Source:  Bicol Today)

The Philippines is in the World's 10 Most Threatened Forest Hotspots.

The Philippines is not the only country experiencing deforestation.  However, it is one of the countries experiencing massive deforestation at around 180,000 hectares per year based on a report by the World Wildlife Fund.

The same report said that many  logging  concessionaires effectively dictated forest policies in our government.

The loss of life and damage to property related to flooding from deforestation have been steadily mounting through the years.

Sendong: Anatomy of a Disaster

Warnings in the Philippines are often left unheeded by government officials.


Conservation International identified the Philippines as 4th in the 10 most threatened forest in the world.  It further said that 100 years ago, the forest cover of the Philippine was 97% of the country's total land area.


When the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos assumed office in 1965, it was still almost 80%.  When he was toppled down after 20 years, the forest cover was estimated to be only 27%.


Through the administrations of Cory Aquino, Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, or, a total of 24 year later, the forest cover is now down to only 7%.  The World Wildlife Fund puts it at a pitiful 3%.

In 2009, a baby is led to safety by her father
in a plastic basin in Cagayan de Oro.
(Source: Digital Photographer Philippines)

Way back on January 3, 2009, Cagayan de Oro and Iligan already experienced one of their worst flash floods.

Mark Anthony Ermac had a few details of the 2009 Iligan flash flood in his blog.

The disaster was well analyzed by another blogger named BenCyrus G. Ellorin.  He is a member of Task Force Macajalar, an anti-illegal logging group based in Cagayan de Oro.

The huge volumes of water from the Kalatungan Mountain Range in Lanao del Sur and Mt. Kitanglad Mountain Range in Bukidnon were the main sources of the swell in the Cagayan de Oro and Iligan Rivers.

That was only three (3) years ago.