Minister says loggers were informed about the moratorium

In response to the argument that loggers were taken by surprise, Alamilla said that had they been informed of a moratorium prior to its implementation, there would have been unchecked extraction of the precious wood across Toledo.

Isani Cayetano

“Looking at the moratorium, it doesn’t have a deadline per se.  Can you tell us how the assessment is coming along and when, if there will be any lift on this suspension?”

Lisel Alamilla

“Right now what we are telling the communities once we get in there [is that] they have two weeks to take out all their material.  Once they take out all their material the Forestry Department then goes in and measures, right, so they can’t come afterwards and say well I have a thousand more board foot because that [would] mean that they have done that within the moratorium time.  So the idea is for us to really get a control of this.  There’s no survey going on, the survey is put on hold until this data gathering is done about what has already been cut, what’s on the ground and how to mobilize it and ensure that people aren’t suffering too long economically.”

Isani Cayetano

Lisel Alamilla

“Minister, one of the arguable points that was brought forward was the fact that there wasn’t any due notice given prior to the moratorium.  Can you explain the rationale behind that?”

Lisel Alamilla

“Well of course there wasn’t any due notice given [because] there would have been a rampage to cut even more.  So that had to be a swift decision to do that because in fact the speculation that it was coming and there was already an increase in it so that’s the reason why.  If you are going to act on an issue that is of such urgency [then] you can’t be giving notice to anyone otherwise you’d be undermining the entire purpose of the moratorium.”

We’ll have more on the minister’s interview later in the newscast.