DENR gives timely tweaks to WPP permit process
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has decentralized the processing and issuance of wood processing plant (WPP) permits in a bid to boost investments and employment in the forestry sector.
This, as DENR Secretary Roy A. Cimatu ordered the transfer of the authority to renew WPP permits to regional executive directors as part of its efforts to improve transactions in government offices.
Cimatu's directive, contained in DENR Administrative Order (DAO) 2021-05 titled, "Revised Regulations Governing the Establishment and Operations of Wood Processing Plants," also extended the validity of WPP permits from the current three years to five years.
"This order is pursuant to the objectives of Republic Act (RA) 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business to eliminate over-regulation and to promote efficiency," he said of the DAO issued on March 26, 2021.
With the order, only the applications for new WPP permits will be accepted and reviewed by the undersecretary for field operations at the DENR Central Office.
Before the issuance of DAO 2021-05, the approval and renewal of WPP permits were conducted at the DENR Central Office per DAO 2016-07. The old process was also based on the DENR Manual of Authorities for Technical Matters dated May 19, 2016.
"This is but one of the many reforms the DENR has set out to do to shore up investments and employment in the country’s forest sector and increase the local supply of wood products and employment productivity in forest resource-dependent communities in the uplands," Cimatu said of the new DAO.
He noted that the development was also part of the agency's efforts to fine-tune its regulatory policies with recent forestry policy reforms.
It is also expected to hasten the establishment of production tree plantations in private lands, which can serve as sources of domestic timber. This is turn will minimize timber importation.
As for extending the WPP permit validity to five years, Cimatu said this was consistent with the provision of Executive Order (EO) 23.
EO 23, which declares a "moratorium on the cutting and harvesting of timber in natural and residual forests nationwide," requires WPPs to prove that they have a sustainable source of legally cut wood for at least five years to be able to operate.
To be covered by the permits are WPP operators and lumber dealers engaged in the operation of sawmill, mini-sawmill, re-saw permit, plywood/veneer plants, blockboards, fiberboard, particleboard, and other wood-based panel plants and wood treating plants.
Meanwhile, in order to promote vertical integration, the validity of the WPP permit will be made co-terminus with those of tenure instrument holders engaged in tree plantation development.
With the reforms, private landowners and holders of forestry tenure instruments such as the Integrated Forest Management Agreement (IFMA), Socialized Industrial Forest Management Agreement (SIFMA), and Community-Based Forest Management Agreement (CBFMA) are expected to establish their own WPPs to encourage vertical integration.