Edding and the Zamboanga City EcoZone are at loggerheads over the issue of territorial control over a sitio in the uplands of Sibuco where the EcoZone deployed guards and even had hardwoods cut, ostensibly for use in the construction of a resthouse for its personnel.
Adobo’s assurance came in the wake of escalating protests by Sibuco residents over illegal logging activities perpetrated by chainsaw operators hired by the EcoZone.
Edding and Adobo are both lawyers.
Edding has scored the Zambo EcoZone for trespassing into Sibuco territory, saying farmers in upland communities have also reported the presence of EcoZone security guards who question them in their own farms.
Adobo said that he would abide by what was agreed upon during a meeting held recently at the Garden Orchid Hotel here.
Edding has asked the EcoZone personnel not to cut trees in the forests of Sibuco, insisting that the 15-hectare Zambo EcoZone has no right to encroach on the territory of Sibuco, which has 78,900 hectares.
The team to be formed by Adobo will guard and prevent illegal loggers from cutting trees in the forested areas of sitio Kasilangan, Upper Malayal in Sibuco.
Adobo assured Edding that all his five recommendees will be accommodated in the task group. Edding earlier claimed that Adobo declined to accommodate his recommendees.
The DENR executive said it is not true that he would not accommodate Edding’s recommendees. The Task Group will guard the forests of sitio Kasilangan.
"I assure Mayor Edding that all his five recommendees will be accommodated in the task force which we created for purposes of guarding the forest. Edding earlier denounced that there were massive cutting of hardwoods in the area by the ZamboEcoZone," Adobo said.
He said the group will utilize the camp of the security guards of the zone in Kilometer 23 to guard the area, saying the outpost is located strategically.
Zamboanga del Norte Gov. Rolando Yebes, Edding, Presidential Assistant for Western Mindanao Ferdie Mahusay, Zamboanga Economic Zone and Free Port Authority (ZamboEcoZone) and other top government officials agreed in principle to establish a composite checkpoint at the area, which is at the center of a boundary dispute between this city and Sibuco.
Adobo also denied that he violated an agreement creating a joint task force to oversee and serve as security in the area against illegal loggers.
"Adobo violated our agreement during a meeting in this city and he instead formed a task group comprised of military and police personnel, including some people from the ZamboEcoZone," Edding lamented.
The DENR official said that once he and Mayor Edding meet, he will brief the latter on the position of his department, especially on issues of "illegal logging and boundary conflict" between Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga City.
Meanwhile, Yebes in a letter sent to ZamboEcoZone chairwoman Georgina Yu, dated November 8, 2005, reminded her of their meeting last October 8, when they agreed that a survey will be conducted by the DENR in Region 9 to determine the boundary of the zone and Zamboanga del Norte.
