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The extra-hot summer, dry leaves and pranksters are a dangerous combination.
Add to that illegal wood cutters out to make charcoal from standing trees.
A forest fire that destroyed six hectares of seedlings and young trees in the Buhisan watershed in Cebu City appears to have been man-made.
Barangay Toong captain Teotimo Bacalso yesterday said that based on reports he received, the fire was intentionally started, but he had no identities of suspects.
He ordered his 20 tanods to conduct a 24-hour roving patrol especially in sitio Angay-angay and Kangkeng, where fires usually break out.
No people were injured or houses displaced.
The damage was confined mostly to the ground cover and up to 1 meter high, wiping out seedlings and two-year-old native trees in part of a 21-hectare reforestation area of the Philippine Business for Social Progres (PBSP).
At P40,000 a hectare, the fire damage was estimated at almost P250,000 for the private foundation.
The Buhisan watershed is a 631-hectare protected area and the smallest of five critical watersheds in Central Cebu, the source of potable water for the island.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña ordered Toong's barangay captain to monitor the situation closely but didn't think it needed immediate action yet.
He went to Toong yesterday for a pulong-pulong with residents but talked about campaign-related matters like the value of the reclamation of the South Road Projects, not the summer fire.
In a separate interview, he told Cebu Daily News he may order ?fire breaks? set up if the forest fires worsens, but said this would need equipment and expertise.
?If it really gets bad, we have to do that (fire break), because when you do a fire breaking, you have to cut trees and you have to leave spaces in between.?
?Kaanugon sad diba? You start to cut the trees. That's what a fire break is,? he added.
?We'll just monitor carefully (first). There are many remedies for that. Possibly one way of putting a fire break is to trim the trees but I need to get an expert for that and equipment to go up there to cut the branches.?
COMMON OCCURENCE
Buhisan Watershed includes four Cebu City mountain barangays: Buhisan, Toong, Pamutan and Sapangdaku.
Roberto Reyes, a 68-year-old Toong resident, who lives about 10 meters from a burned site, said it was common to have pocket fires in the barangay, especially during summer when old leaves fall to the ground.
He said youngsters,aged 10 to 15, would start bonfires just for fun.
?Sauna naka sakop mi mga bata, nga dagkotan ang mga laya na nga dahon, maoy hinungdan sa sunog. Amu buyagon, managan rapud dayon. (We caught before, children lighting up dried leaves, that caused fires in the forest. We tried to stop them, but they would just run away.), ? he said.
Several residents near the affected area didn't appear worried or afraid.
They said they were used to seeing a series of fires break in the hinterlands every year.
?Wa raman mi nabalaka, pero makalagot lang gyud kay sayang kaayo ang mga gigasto sa gobyerno sa pagtanom. Ug ang mga layang dahon mamahimo man unta nga fertilizer sa mga tanom kon mangalata na. (We're not worried. But what is annoying is that they wasted what the government had spent in planting trees. The dried leaves can be used as fertilizer of plants,? Reyes said.
Before the PBSP planted trees in Buhisan, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and other groups had been undertaking reforestation, focusing on exotic species like Gmelina, teak, mahogany and palms.
Remando Villarin, 54, a barangay tanod of sitio Angay-angay said that they are always vigilant once a fire hits in the forest, as their houses are made of light materials and concrete.
?Wa ra mi nakuyawan sa sunog kay permi naman gud na. Pero magbantay gyud mi kay wa pud ta kabalo. (We aren't frighted with the fire, because it's not new to us. But still we are watchful and careful because we just don't know what will happen next.)? Villarin said.
Bacalso also said that they will look into reports of cutting down trees to make the wood into charcoal.
When CDN visited Toong, there were newly cut trees , leaving only trunk stumps. Charcoal-making is an old enterprise in the hinterlands despite its destructive effects on the watershed.
Maria Luisa Largo, PBSP program officer for reforestation, earlier said,PBSP has been planting indigenous trees in barangay Buhisan and Toong after noting that most trees planted there were exotic species or imported.
She said PBSP would aim to replant 100 percent of the damaged area when the rainy season starts in June.
To have biodiversity, PBSP efforts focused on the planting of native trees like kaningag or Cebu cinnamon tree, lawaan, almaciga, narra and toog or Philippine rosewood.
Local residents are engaged to maintain the seedlings until they grow to maturity so the community also has a source of livelihood.
In PBSP, reforestation has to go hand in hand with providing livelihood for people.
?In a watershed, where there are settlements, social, economics, environment and good governance must interplay,? said Largo.
?In governance, mechanisms for stakeholders' participation should be adhered to coupled with the right policies.?
The PBSP is the country's largest corporate-led foundation for social development. Member companies allot a portion of their income for anti-poverty projects./Fe Marie D. Dumaboc
