Three executive Departments,
namely, the Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of the Interior and Local
Government (DILG) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources
(DENR), have jointly created Fact-Finding Committees to handle cases related to
Illegal Logging and Illegal Mining activities.
Under Joint
Department Order (JDO) Nos. 001-2012 and 002- 2012 (on illegal logging and
illegal mining, respectively), Fact-Finding Committees were created, composed of
officials, lawyers, investigators and prosecutors from the three Departments
and the concerned agencies and offices under their respective jurisdiction
(e.g., the National Bureau of Investigation [NBI], the National Prosecution
Service [NPS], and Philippine National Police [PNP]).
They are mandated
to investigate, collect evidence, build cases and file appropriate charges
against those involved or responsible for illegal logging and illegal mining
operations, including incidents of violence against, or killing of those
charged with enforcing and implementing the government's campaign against such
illicit activities, or those otherwise involved in the fight against illegal
logging and illegal mining.
To
ensure accountability and effective performance of said Committees, the Joint
Department Orders (JDOs) provide for the submission of monthly reports to the
Secretaries of the DENR, DILG and DOJ, for onward transmission to the Office of
the President.
The President
issued the directive after noting not just the public health and safety hazards
and environmental degradation that result from such illicit activities, but
also the violence and bloodshed that trail the government's efforts to combat
and eradicate such illegal operations.
"These
Fact-Finding Committees, which directly report to us three Cabinet Secretaries
and, through us, to the President, were created to ensure that the
investigations and the case build-up are effective in rooting out those
responsible for the persistence of these illegal operations. We want to ensure
that everyone who profits from these activities, including and especially those
who resort to violence against law enforcers and anti-illegal logging and anti-illegal
mining activists, are all brought to justice.
We fear, as it has
indeed been reported, that the reason why these illicit operations still
persist is because there are strategically positioned government agents,
officers or officials who protect these operations. If they think they are
untouchable, by the creation and operation of these Committees, we intend to
disabuse them of such notion," said Secretary of Justice Leila M . De Lima.
