[Area]
The forests of the Philippines cover about 18,706,093 hectares, or
72,224 square miles, which is about 63.1 per cent of the total area of
the Archipelago. Of these number, 16,609,108 hectares or 64,127 square
miles, 88.6 per cent of the entire forest area are of a commercial
character. In addition, there are estimated to be about 2,096,985
hectares, or 8,096 square miles of second growth forests which will
yield large quantities of fine wood and small size timber. It is
said that taken together, the virgin and second growth forests in the
Islands cover an area about equal to the area of the State of Nebraska.
[Ownership]
More than 99 per cent of the timber belongs to the Philippine
government and is under the administrative control of the Bureau
of Forestry. Less than 1 per cent is held under title of private
ownership.
[Volume of Timber Resource]
The volume of this timber resource of the Philippines is
192,000,000,000 board feet or 777,000,000 cubic meters. Most of
the timber belong to the dipterocarp family. The largest reach
about 200 feet in height and some specimens have a diameter of 7
feet. The well-known woods of this family are tanguile, red lauan,
almon, apitong, guijo, and yakal. These woods have found favorable
acceptance in the markets of China and the United States.
Next to the dipterocarp family is the molave family. Among the woods of
this family are aranga, duñgon, and molave. There are about 1,036,000
hectares of this timber with a total volume of 7,680,000,000 board
feet. These woods are appropriate for railway ties and for building
construction purposes.
[Timber Output and Export]
The timber output of the islands was 184,628 cubic meters in 1911;
297,094 cubic meters in 1914; 385,150 cubic meters in 1918 and 630,973
in 1922. It is said that this output can be trebled, even quadrupled,
without exhausting the supply for several hundred years.
The export of timber in 1914 was 27,070 cubic meters valued at
P681,272; for 1916, 40,164 cubic meters worth P1,030,276; for 1919,
15,704 cubic meters worth P791,823 and for 1922, 43,008 cubic meters
worth P1,656,812.
The lumber industry in the islands offers many advantages. The
government charges are nominal, ranging from P2.00 to P10.00 per
1,000 board feet according to class. Logging and sawmill equipment
and machinery enter free of duty if imported from the United States
and only 15 per cent duty, if bought from other countries. For fuel,
sawmill waste can be utilized. Water power is available from streams
in a number of places.
[Obtaining a Tract of Timber]
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 a twenty-year exclusive license to cut and extract timber and
other forest products from a specified tract. The land itself is in
no way affected by such a license. Only the timber and minor forest
products are included.
[Sawmills]
At present there are about 50 sawmills of all sizes and descriptions
operating in the Islands. About 12 of these can be compared to the
average modern sawmills in the United States. The largest sawmills
are located on timber concessions, while the others are operated under
short-term licenses. The total cut of the sawmills of the Philippine
Islands is about 100 to 130 million board feet per year.
MINOR FOREST PRODUCTS.--This term includes all products of the forest
except timber or lumber. Many of the minor forest products of the
Philippines are at present almost unknown in the world's markets and
are largely confined to local use.
The most important are nipa, sugar, and alcohol; rattan, used in
making furniture; Manila copal or almaciga, used in making high
grade varnish; lumbang, a nut-producing high grade oil for varnish;
dye-woods and barks; guttapercha and rubber; paper pulp; fibers
suitable for making baskets, hats, mats, ropes, etc.; soap barks;
pili nuts, declared by many as superior even to almonds; wax; and
different kinds of medicinal plants.