BONTOC, Mountain Province – A barangay in this municipality that will have a zero-forest fire incident will be granted additional funds from the Bontoc Local Government Unit (LGU) for the year 2025.
Bontoc Mayor Jerome “Chagsen” Tudlong, Jr., made this pronouncement during the First Quarter meeting of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (MDRRMC) on February 20, 2024.
Relative to this, he instructed the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO) and the Municipal Budget Office on the allocation of P300,000 in the preparation of the Bontoc LGU’s budget for Fiscal Year 2025 for the said purpose. It will be charged under the 5% Calamity Fund. Should there be more than one barangay that have no records of forest fire from September 2024 until September 2025, the P300,000 will be equally divided to them. This is through listing of any DRRM-related projects to be implemented by the Bontoc LGU.
However, Barangay Poblacion is not included as it has no protected forest or mountain within its area of jurisdiction.
This proactive move of Mayor Tudlong who also chairs the MDRRMC stemmed from the report of the Bontoc Municipal Fire Station (MFS) during the council’s meeting concerning the alarming increase in forest fire incidents in the municipality.
“This will serve as a reward to the barangay that will heighten its proactive measures on the protection of forests and mountains. I reiterate my appeal to the public to be mindful of the impact of forest fires on the environment, our health, and the safety of the public and the responders,” the mayor added.
Per a report from SFO1 Clifford Chinalpan, from January 1 2024, until February 19, 2024, the Bontoc MFS monitored a total of 25 forest fire incidents. Of the said number, only 12 forest fires were reported. These included three forest fire incidents in January with 8.505 hectares of land affected and nine this February ravaging 97.011 hectares of land. The Bontoc MFS and other community volunteers responded to said reported forest fire incidents.
Relative to this, Chinalpan rallied the support and cooperation of everyone in the campaign for fire prevention and safety. Also, he solicited the support of the barangay local government units in the organization or establishment of a Community Fire Auxiliary Group (CFAG) in every barangay. The BFP is the lead agency in the organization of CFAG in barangays to serve as first responders during fire incidents, especially in areas that are isolated and far from the fire stations.
In his presentation, Chinalpan mentioned that the barangays that have organized and trained CFAG are Samoki, Gonogon, Alab Proper, Mainit, and Guina-ang. Aside from this, there are seven fire brigades including Alab Oriente Barangay Fire Brigade, Balili Barangay Volunteer Brigade, BOMARVA Fire Brigade, Lanao Fire Brigade, Provincial Social Security Group Fire Brigade, Provincial Capitol Fire Brigade, and Bontoc Emergency Response Team (BERT) Fire Brigade.
Likewise, he appealed to the barangay officials to revisit their existing ordinances relative to the burning of forests or mountains and implement the same. For the barangays that do not have ordinances, he appealed for them to adopt measures concerning the protection of the environment.
It is to be noted that under Presidential Decree 705 otherwise known as the “Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines”, Section 69 of said law provides penalties for destruction of forest lands. By Alpine L. Killa-Malwagay
