THE PHILIPPINE FORESTS
Would that I had adequate words in which to describe the wonders of
the Philippine forests, through which I wandered almost daily for four
years, and which I love to revisit whenever the opportunity presents
itself! Their majestic stateliness and magic beauty defy description. I
have seen them swept by hurricanes when huge branches crashed down
and mighty trees thundered to earth, imperilling life and limb, and
I have seen them in the still noons of the tropics when not a leaf
stirred. At times they are vocal with songs of birds and ceaseless
din of insects, and again they are as silent as the grave. Who could
do justice to the endless variety and beauty of tree-trunk, leaf
and flower; the exquisite drapery of vines, ferns and orchids which
covers the older forest monarchs; the weird masses of aërial roots
which lead superstitious natives to believe some trees to be haunted,
and small wonder; the ever changing light and shade bringing out new
beauties where one least expects to find them; the endless differences
in the flora due to variations in altitude and in the distribution
of moisture?
In Mindoro, Palawan and Mindanao we find tropical vegetation in its
absolute perfection; in the highlands of northern Luzón we meet our
old friends, the pine and oak, while beside them grow strawberries,
raspberries, huckleberries, jacks-in-the-pulpit and other friends of
our childhood days.
Surely the Philippine forests should be preserved, but not for their
beauty alone! In them the people have a permanent source of wealth,
if they can only be made to realize it and to take proper measures
to protect it. Certainly no other country has a greater variety of
beautiful and serviceable woods. Some of them are so close-grained
and hard that they successfully resist the attacks of white ants,
and prove almost indestructible even when buried in the earth. Others
will not stand exposure to the weather, but last indefinitely under
cover and are excellent for inside framing and finishing. We have the
best of cabinet woods, such as ebony, camagon, narra, [160] acle, and
tindalo. From some of our trees come valuable gums, such as almaciga
[161] and gutta percha. Others produce alcohol, tan barks, dyewoods,
valuable vegetable oils or drugs. The so-called "Singapore cane,"
so highly prized by makers of wicker furniture, grows abundantly
in Palawan. Great areas are covered with a bamboo which makes an
excellent paper pulp.
In short, the Philippine forests should be like money in the bank for
the inhabitants of the islands. There are in this world wise people who
under ordinary circumstances spend only the interest on their money;
and there are others who spend the principal while it lasts. To which
class do the Filipinos belong?
It has been said that the civilization of a people may be measured by
its forest practice, and in a sense this is true, for forestry as we
know it to-day, and as the leading nations of Europe have known it
for a long period, means the limiting of immediate gain in the hope
of future reward, direct and indirect; in fact, it means present-day
sacrifice for the sake of an unborn posterity. A wise national forest
policy therefore involves not only foresight, but statesmanship
and patriotism, which in their most advanced degree are to be found
only among the people of the most enlightened nations. The manner in
which a people regards its forest resources may be taken as fairly
indicative of its outlook in general. What then has been the policy
of the Philippine government and what the attitude of the people,
toward these resources?
There is little room for doubt that practically the entire land
area of the Philippines from the plains at sea-level to the highest
mountain-tops was originally covered with forest growth. At the time
of the American occupation two-thirds of this wonderful heritage
had ceased to exist. This would be all very well if any considerable
portion of the vast deforested areas were cultivated, or put to any
permanent profitable use, but such is not the case. According to the
best estimates which it has thus far been possible to make, only about
fifteen per cent of the land from which the original forests have
been stripped is to-day under any form of cultivation. The remainder
is covered with commercially worthless second-growth forest, and with
several giant grasses which are collectively known as cógon.
The cogonáles [162] make up approximately sixty per cent of the
deforested area, or forty per cent of the land area of the entire
archipelago. They are not good for grazing unless fed down very
closely. They are difficult to bring under cultivation because of the
vitality of the grass roots and the acidity which they impart to the
soil. Cogonáles are often the breeding places of swarms of locusts
which devour growing crops in neighbouring fields. They have been
produced by the shiftless form of agriculture known as caiñgin making.
A large majority of the inhabitants of the Philippines will not fight,
for any length of time, the tropical weeds and grasses which invade
their cultivated fields, and rather than attempt to do so prefer
to clear forest lands, slaughtering the trees indiscriminately
and burning them where they fall. An area so cleared is known as
a caiñgin. It is usually planted with camotes, corn, rice or some
similar quick-growing crop. Cultivation is carried on in a haphazard
way, but is soon abandoned when a jungle growth of grass, weeds and
seedling trees begins to spring up. At the end of the first, the
second or, at latest the third year the caiñgin maker abandons his
clearing and starts a new one. Fires sweep over the abandoned areas,
killing everything except the cógon grass which takes possession and
holds it against all comers. The forest destruction thus wrought in
the past is appalling. Within limits, it still continues, although
unlicensed caiñgin making is now forbidden by law.
In cutting timber for domestic use and for the market, the Filipinos
have in the past been absolutely indifferent to the matter of
reproduction, making a clean sweep in those places where merchantable
tree species could be readily and cheaply obtained.
Six weeks after the Philippine Commission became the legislative
body of the islands, it passed an act for the reorganization of the
Forestry Bureau, which had previously been created by military order,
continuing as its chief Major George P. Ahern, who had held this
position under the military régime, and who is to-day in length of
service the ranking bureau chief of the insular government.
Major Ahern was thus intrusted with the management of some fifty-four
thousand square miles of forest land, and was charged with the
duty of investigating the forest resources of the Philippines,
and of developing and protecting them. These two latter objects are
by no means incompatible. Vastly more timber falls and rots in the
Philippines than is cut and marketed, and the forest wealth of the
islands may be developed in such a way as actually to improve the areas
that are cut over by removing old trees, and thus giving light and
air to younger ones which then rapidly grow up and take their places.
The stand of hardwood timber in the Philippines is now probably
the finest in the world. The United States and Europe are ready
to purchase every foot of the selected grades of lumber that we
can ship. China offers a practically inexhaustible market for the
cheaper grades. Stumpage charges are moderate. Yet in spite of all
these advantages the islands do not, as yet, produce lumber enough
to supply their own needs.
This condition is rapidly changing, however, and if adequate measures
are not adopted for the conservation of the forests, we shall sooner
or later be confronted with the danger of their devastation by the
lumberman.
Under the direction of the Bureau of Forestry the trees which are
to be felled are in many instances marked, and in any event care
is taken to prevent the cutting of any which have not attained to
certain prescribed diameters, while the leaving of enough adequately
to provide for reproduction is obligatory.
Up to the time of the American occupation forest operations had been
limited to a very small number of well-known species of demonstrated
commercial value. The total number of tree species which had then
been identified was about twelve hundred. The number identified up
to the present time is approximately twenty-five hundred. A large
amount of important work has been done in determining what ones of
the commercially unknown species are valuable, and in what ways they
may best be utilized.
One of the most important functions of the Bureau of Forestry has
been to investigate unexplored and unknown forests, and ascertain
definitely the stand of commercially valuable trees, at the same time
giving proper consideration to the practicability of getting lumber
from them to the market at reasonable expense. As a result of this
work the bureau has been able to furnish much accurate and valuable
information to persons desiring to engage in the lumber industry.
Some forests have been found to be very valuable, while others are
practically worthless either on account of the absence of the better
tree species or because of difficulties which render it impossible
or unprofitable to transport lumber from them to a market.
At the time of the American occupation the methods employed in
felling trees and converting them into lumber were primitive in
the extreme. The small Malay axe, the edge of which is hardly wider
than that of a good-sized chisel, was in common use. Once felled,
trees were necessarily cut into short lengths, as all logs had to be
hauled by carabaos. The logs were ultimately cut into lumber by hand
with whip-saws operated, as a rule, by two men each. There was not a
modern sawmill in the Philippine Islands. The few mills which existed
were of the most antiquated type, and with one or two negligible
exceptions were confined to Manila.
To-day there are about sixty steam sawmills in operation and orders
have been placed for others, some of which will have a capacity of one
hundred thousand board feet of lumber per day. The actual investment
in logging equipment and sawmills runs into the millions of dollars.
Logging was formerly closely restricted to the most valuable species,
so situated that they could be rolled into the water or hauled to
the beach by carabaos. Large tracts are now being logged with modern
machinery under conservative forest methods, and the logging railway
and the skidding engine are rapidly coming into use.
Three forest reserves, similar in purpose to the national forests
of the United States, have been set aside to insure a permanent
timber supply in certain regions and to afford permanent protection
to streams capable of furnishing irrigation water upon which may
depend the prosperity of the inhabitants of neighbouring plains. One
hundred and forty-nine communal forests have been created for as many
municipalities, in order permanently to provide them with timber and
firewood. The interests of the Filipinos themselves have been given
first consideration, and the inhabitants of towns for which communal
forests have not been set aside may freely cut and gather from any
public forest, without license and without payment, all timber of
the second and lower groups which they require for domestic use,
while gratuitous licenses can be had for first-group timber to be
employed in the construction of permanent houses.
Within recent years the revenue derived from forest products has
steadily increased, in spite of the fact that the government charges
have been materially reduced.
The public forests of the Philippines are not sold, but are developed
under a license system. Small operators usually work under ordinary
yearly licenses for definite small areas. Exclusive licenses, or
concessions as they are popularly called, are generally in the form
of twenty-year exclusive licenses to cut and remove timber and other
forest products from certain specified tracts. The land itself is in
no way affected by such licenses. Merely the timber and minor forest
products are included. When a lumberman is seriously considering
an investment in the Philippines, he himself, or an experienced
representative, should state to the director of forestry approximately
the extent of the investment he contemplates. He will then be given
information about several tracts which promise to answer his needs,
and arrangements can be made for an experienced forester to accompany
him over the tracts in question so that he may size up conditions for
himself. All maps, estimates and other detailed information which
may have been collected on the tracts will, of course, be placed
at his disposal, and he can count upon the heartiest governmental
coöperation and assistance in making a success of his enterprise. It
should be understood, however, that in no case does the director of
forestry guarantee the correctness of the estimates or other data
which he furnishes. These are given to the applicant for what they
are worth, and in every case he is advised to take such steps as
may be necessary to satisfy himself as to whether or not they are
correct. If the lumberman then decides to apply for a concession, he
makes a formal application in writing to the director of forestry for
an exclusive twenty-year privilege for the tract he has selected. His
application is then forwarded by the director of forestry with
recommendations to the secretary of the interior, who may approve the
issuance of an exclusive license if he decides that such a course is
in the public interest. For an area of more than a thousand hectares
(approximately twenty-five hundred acres) proposals for bids to secure
the desired privilege are published in the Official Gazette and other
papers. At least six weeks intervene between the appearance of the
first advertisement and the opening of the bids, but in order to
give interested parties in the Philippines ample time to correspond
with their principals in Europe or America, this period is usually
extended to about four months. The advertisement also enumerates
certain minimum requirements which principally specify the minimum
amount of capital which must be invested within a certain given time
and the minimum cut during the several succeeding years, together
with certain requirements regarding logging and milling equipment.
Formal bids are finally submitted, and the license is ordinarily
granted to the bidder who gives the best assurances of developing
the tract most thoroughly and promptly. The right to reject any and
all bids is expressly reserved.
In fixing the annual production there is taken into consideration,
so far as possible, the amount of over-mature timber on the stand and
the amount of the annual increment, with the object of rendering the
investment a permanent one instead of merely permitting the operator
to strip and abandon the area he holds. In preparing regulations under
which the operator is required to work, first care is given to the
future condition of the area, in order that the land after logging
may be potentially as valuable as before, and no consideration
of immediate profit is allowed to interfere. Nevertheless, the
logger in the Philippines will find that in comparison with similar
conditions elsewhere he will have few restrictions to contend with,
and in practically no cases are these such as seriously to increase
the cost of his operations. It is to permit such permanent use of
the land that concessions are granted over such large areas, often
consisting of a hundred square miles or even more.
As local residents are given the right to cut what lumber and firewood
they may need for their private use in the territory covered by
exclusive licenses, this system is not open to objection, especially
as there are more than sufficient forest areas to accommodate all
applicants desiring exclusive licenses. The director of forestry
has the right to reduce cutting areas if outputs do not come up
to requirements, so that a dog-in-the-manger policy is rendered
impossible.
The local market takes about one hundred million feet per year. Only
a few million feet are exported annually at present. A properly
distributed cut of five hundred million feet per year would actually
improve the forests.
It would seem that the policy which we have followed would meet with
the almost unanimous approval of the Filipinos, but as a matter of
fact it has been far from popular with them. The forest reserves have
been set aside against the protest of the very people who will profit
by the conservation of their resources, and would be the first to
suffer from their destruction. The native press, and the Filipinos
generally, have opposed the opening up of timber tracts by modern
logging methods, despite the fact that such tracts are usually
inaccessible to persons operating with old-fashioned equipment,
and the further fact that the establishment of important lumbering
enterprises means additional employment for well-paid skilled and
unskilled labor, increase in the money in circulation, decrease in
lumber imports and the ultimate development of a lucrative export
trade. Fear of American capital can hardly be cited as an explanation
of this phenomenon. Of three concessions granted last year only one,
which was subsequently abandoned, went to American capitalists.
Thus far the Filipinos have made no attempt to share in the development
of their forests on any save a very small scale. Of the total amount
of lumber sawed in the islands only about ten per cent is produced
in mills owned or controlled by them. It is useless to argue that
the timber should be saved for future generations, for if not cut at
maturity trees fall and rot.
So far as concerns conservation, the attitude of the Filipinos is
even less satisfactory. There is abundant evidence on which to base
a prediction as to the policy which they would follow in practice,
if the compelling hand of an enlightened nation were withdrawn.
There is a singular indifference to the results of wanton forest
destruction, not only on the part of the persons guilty of it but on
that of the municipal, provincial and judicial officials who should
prevent it by enforcing the law. Even when the employees of the
Bureau of Forestry have laboriously gathered conclusive evidence
against caiñgin makers it often proves excessively difficult, or
impossible, to secure conviction. The existing opposition to forest
protection springs from a desire on the part of the Filipinos to
consume their capital as well as their interest, without thought of
the morrow, or of the permanent advantage to their country as a whole
which would result from conservation of its forest wealth. If they
were left to their own devices the forests would once more blaze
with caiñgin fires set by the poor peasant at the command of the
influential cacique. Unfortunately that is now only too often the way
in which caiñgins come to be made. The rich landowners compel ignorant
dependents to make them, furnishing seed for the first agricultural
crop. Under this arrangement the poor labourer runs all the risk of
being prosecuted, does all the work, and often gives half or more of
his crop to the cacique as a return for the seed loaned him. After
the caiñgin is abandoned the cacique claims the land as his own,
and through his influence in provincial politics can often succeed in
delaying, or avoiding, prosecution even if detected in his wrong-doing.
What the result would be were all restraint withdrawn, and were
the Filipinos permitted to destroy their forest resources at will,
may easily be inferred from what has happened in the past, as well as
from the difficulties encountered in enforcing the present law. Cebú,
the most thickly populated large island in the archipelago, is already
practically deforested, and until recently many other islands have
been rapidly approaching the same unfortunate condition.
Under conservative forest management the existing annual output of
lumber might be increased fivefold and the unfortunate results from
reckless cutting, which have so frequently occurred in the past and
which not infrequently still occur, might be completely avoided.
If these very desirable ends are to be attained, the force employed
by the Bureau of Forestry must be materially augmented. It has
been conclusively demonstrated that every increase in the number of
its employees is promptly followed by a sufficient increase in the
insular revenues derived from forest products to more than offset the
expense involved in the payment of the additional salaries and travel
expenses. For every extra peso that the government expends in this way
it takes in about two, and if this can be done, and the enormous forest
resources of the islands developed and conserved at the same time,
there ought to be no trouble in securing the necessary legislation.
I long endeavoured to bring about the establishment of a fixed
relationship between the amount annually collected on forest
products and the amount allotted for the work of the Bureau of
Forestry. Obviously the working force of the bureau must be increased
as the lumber industry develops, or adequate supervision cannot
be exercised.
Increasing the working force of the bureau makes possible
investigations which stimulate the development of the lumber industry,
and lead to a largely increased output.
The collection of revenue on forest products from government lands is
made by the Bureau of Internal Revenue under the general supervision
of the secretary of finance and justice. I have recently learned,
to my amazement, that every large sawmill owner in the islands is
allowed to make the statement of the output of his mill upon which
collections are based; a procedure very like allowing importers to
assess their own customs dues. The inevitable result is that the
government is robbed right and left. Finding that an attempt was made
to justify this procedure on the ground that it was impracticable to
have lumber measured at the mills, as the Bureau of Internal Revenue
has not sufficient employees for this purpose, I endeavoured to remedy
this extraordinary situation.
Under existing law, timber may be measured in the round, in the square,
or after it has been manufactured into lumber. Measurement in the round
is quick and simple, and it has the further advantage that loss due to
wasteful sawing falls on the lumberman, while if the sawed lumber only
is measured such loss falls on the government. I therefore drafted and
submitted to the commission a law providing that all timber should be
measured in the round, with proper allowance for defects. Had the law
passed, I could have had employees of the Bureau of Forestry measure
the logs brought into each of the several mills which collectively
turn out ninety per cent of the sawn lumber of the islands, and so
could have effectively prevented frauds upon the government.
A system which practically allows the individuals interested to fix the
amounts which they shall pay the government for its timber naturally
meets with the unqualified approval of the lumbermen. I therefore
expected that they would strenuously object to the proposed change
in law. To my surprise there was no complaint while it was pending
before the commission, which passed it.
Then, and only then, I learned that certain lumbermen had quietly done
their work where they believed, rightly, that it would be effective,
and that the bill would not pass the assembly. An effective lobby,
headed by a Filipino representative of the largest Filipino lumbering
concern in the islands, had been organized against it, and so a
measure having no other object or effect than to prevent frauds on
the government and increase its revenue, was killed, for the time at
least, consideration of the bill being "deferred," by the assembly,
with the result that a large number of foreign mill owners will be
allowed to continue to make an illegitimate profit, and a very limited
number of Filipino mill owners will do the same.
The commercial outlook for the Philippine lumber industry is very
encouraging. No more greedy lumber market exists than Manila has
offered during the past few years, this condition being due primarily
to the stimulus given to all lines of industrial development by the
economic policy of the insular administration.
Prices are high, and the supply is still unequal to the local
demand. Forest products to the value of $696,407 were last year
imported into the Philippines when we should have exported them in
large quantities. A lumber company properly equipped and managed,
and operating on a suitable tract, can place lumber in its Manila
yards at a cost of half or even less than half the price at which
the same lumber readily sells. The export trade, which should be very
profitable, has as yet scarcely been inaugurated. Tan bark, dyewoods,
valuable gums and rattans find a ready sale. It may reasonably be
expected that the world's demand for forest products of all kinds
will increase as the years go by, and that the resources of older
countries will become depleted, or at least inadequate to supply
steadily growing needs. Forest growth in the Philippines is rapid,
and under suitable conservation methods reforestation comes about
quickly. With continued enforcement of existing law, and with adequate
supervision over cutting and reforestation, the cost of which should be
paid by the lumber industry itself, the forests of the islands should
become an important permanent source of revenue and wealth. Filipinos
ought to become holders of forest concessions instead of labourers
on the concessions of others. Whether any considerable number of
them will care to do so remains to be seen, but at all events their
forests should be conserved, so that the opportunity may be ever
before them. At the present time caiñgin makers destroy far more
timber in the course of a year than lumbermen use.
In the hope of awakening an interest among Filipinos in forest
conservation and development, and of being able to train an adequate
Filipino working force, a forest school has been started at Los
Baños, in the immediate vicinity of one of our forest reserves, where
practical instruction can advantageously be given. It is anticipated
that the graduates of this school will be of great use in bringing
about a radical change in the attitude of the Filipinos toward forest
conservation.
It is an astonishing fact that the Bontoc and Lepanto Igorots have
been the only ones of the very numerous Philippine peoples to see
for themselves the benefits derivable from forest conservation.
When I first visited their country I noted that all the trees in
certain pine forests were carefully trimmed of their lower branches,
and on inquiry found that trees might not be felled until they reached
a certain size, although branches might be cut for firewood. The
prevention of fires, which are very destructive in pine forests, and
the care of young trees, were also adequately provided for! The Bureau
of Forestry now employs Igorots as fire wardens in Benguet and Bontoc.
If the policy were adopted of appropriating annually an amount
equivalent to sixty per cent of the forest revenues for the work of
the Bureau of Forestry, the proper conservation and development of
the great potential source of wealth intrusted to that bureau would
be adequately provided for. The commission has agreed to such an
arrangement; ten per cent of the total forest revenues to be expended
in the provinces under its exclusive legislative control, and fifty per
cent in the other provinces. Appropriations for the territory occupied
by non-Christians are now made on this basis. No appropriation bill
has been passed by the assembly since this policy was agreed to by the
commission. It remains to be seen whether the former body will favour
the expenditures necessary to support the work of forest conservation
and development, with the reasonable certainty that such work will
not only assure to them and to coming generations a permanent source
of wealth, but will more than pay for itself in dollars and cents.