NEWSFLASH

N.E. MINDANAO A FORESTED INVESTMENT PARADISE

Butuan City, Feb. 29, 2000 - Region 13, otherwise known as the Caraga region in Mindanao, is also reputedly a "natural resource investment paradise."

Caraga is composed of four northeastern Mindanao provinces -- Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur -- acknowledged as a prime timber corridor of the Philippines. With most of country's forest resources already depleted and degraded, Caraga remains as the major source of wood and wood products both for domestic and export markets.

The region is also rich in mineral deposits. The resource inventory of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) indicates that has a total of 432,016,993 metric tons of metallic reserves including gold, nickel, chromite, bauxite, and iron.

Caraga is likewise endowed with 600 kilometers of coasts with world class quality beaches, corral reefs, surfing beaches, and biodiversity areas. It is indeed a natural resource investment paradise.

Climactic considerations make Caraga ideal for tree plantation. For one, it is rarely visited by typhoons. For another, its abundant rainfall and short dry season are conditions favorable to the growth of trees.

Aside from its fertile and deep soil, Caraga's natural terrain and topography is generally rolling with elevation less than 500 meters above sea level, a condition deemed ideal for tree plantations.

Pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 705, the Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines, certain portions of the public forestlands in Region 13 have been declared as the Caraga Forest Plantation Corridor (CFPC).

A tree plantation project in the Caraga Timber Corridor may be among the projects that President Joseph "Erap" Ejercito Estrada will visit during his ongoing weeklong Mindanao tour.

Mr. Estrada is on an extended stay in the Souththe longest stay ever by an incumbent Philippines presidentto underscore his commitment to reverse the decades-old of government bias against Mindanao and convert it into the country’s food basket.

The CFPC covers an aggregate area of 648,503 hectares located in the provinces of Agusan del Sur, Agusan del Norte, Surigao del Norte, and Surigao del Sur.

Of the 648,503-hectare CFPC expanse, 1,777.650 has. have been delineated as the Caraga Timber Corridor (CTC), covering 3,712 has. in Agusan del Norte, 114,067 has. in Agusan del Sur, and 58,380 has. in Surigao del Sur.

The CTC area is covered by an Industrial Forest Management Agreement (IFMA), which aims to encourage the private sector to engage in the establishment and development of industrial forest plantations in the country's brushlands, and open and denuded lands.

IFMA is a production sharing agreement that can be entered between the DENR and a qualified applicant. Under the IFMA scheme, DENR grants to private corporations, persons or groups the right "to develop, utilize, and manage a specified area, consistent with the principle of sustainable development and in accordance with a Comprehensive Development Management Plan (CDMP)."

DENR's National Forestation Program records show that presently, 7,928 hectares of occupied forestland in 14 sub-projects in the Caraga area are now being planted with various industrial tree species.

With financial assistance from the Asian Development Bank, these projects are expected to become a sustained source of abundant wood and wood products for industrial use 10 to 15 years from now.