An Independent Report on the

State of Ipo Watershed

Prepared by a composite team comprising of
members of the Sagip Sierra Madre Environmental Society,
UP Mountaineers Environmental Committee,
Mountaineering Federation of the Philippines and
concerned individuals.

On August 2, 2008, a composite team

comprised of members of the Sagip Sierra
Madre Environmental Society, University of
the Philippines Mountaineers, and
Mountaineering Federation of the Philippines
went on a fact finding mission to Ipo
Watershed, located in Norzagaray, Bulacan.

Their intention was to document human

activities within the watershed and its impact on the continued viability of Ipo
Watershed as source of 12% of Metro Manila’s water supply. Comment: According to information
gathered by UPMEncom, 12 million
Metro Manila Residents depend on
According to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Ipo surface water sources and aquifer sources
for its water supply. Surface water makes
Watershed with an area of 6,600 hectares is 70% denuded. The damage was up 65% of the total water supply. Of this
attributed to illegal logging, slash and burn farming or kaingin, charcoal making, 65%, 12% comes from Ipo Dam.
and the expansion of informal settlements within the area. This point needs to be clarified.
Comment: Secretary Atienza denied
The remaining 30% forest cover, is seriously the veracity of this figure. In the budget
hearing of DENR last September 25,
threatened by intensified logging and kaingin 2008, Secretary Atienza stated that they
within the watershed brought upon by an believe that the actual figure is the
reverse of what this report claims.
ever increasing population of informal settlers
living within the boundaries of the watershed. It is interesting to note though that the
figures being cited by this report came
from a 2004 joint study by the Forest
The picture below shows the path taken by Management Bureau of DENR and
MWSS.
the composite team through the watershed.
Each point along the trail as shown was
recorded by a global positioning device. The Comment: Larry Morales of MFPI
provided the hardware and technical
trail took the team along and across Pako and Anginan River, along and over expertise in using GPS to map, plan and
steep ridges for two days. document the expedition.
Track of the composite team’s 2 day hike shown in magenta. Note the location of Angat and Ipo Dam in the map.

Along the way, the team found approximately 90 sawn wood or "tablon" floating
or being floated down the river or left along the trails. Photographs were even Comment: Photos are digital. They
are embedded with data such as camera
taken of numerous tablon being transported on local boats. settings, date and time.

A parade of sawn wood.

Position: N14-52.800-E121-10.243

They were able to document and take geographic position data of more than 12
kaingin sites of about 2 hectares each. The usual crops that were found were
upland rice being grown on steeply angled terrain. Kaingin farming is very
inefficient and unsustainable. It only allows one viable harvest before the topsoil
is eroded and leaves the area unsuitable for planting the next season’s crops.

Kaingin Site. Position: N14-52.809-E121-11.140

Foreground showing upland rice variety.

The team also encountered around 30 century old tree stumps which were cut
only recently along the route taken. Furthermore, the team heard the distinct
sound of chainsaws 3 times along the way in different areas.

Trees you can’t even wrap your arms around are cut down and made into a few planks.
The team encountered about 21 persons transporting illegally sawn wood. The
team had grown accustomed to people carrying or floating tablon down the river,
to run away to hide their faces and leave their wood behind whenever the team
approached them.

Tablon and work area hastily abandoned once the workers heard our approach. Position: N14-52.797-E121-10.252

Interestingly, the team encountered tablon being hauled out of Ipo River from
boats less than a kilometer away from the security group of Ipo Dam and the
military detachment assigned to secure the dam facility.
Right under their noses. This picture was taken a mere 700m away from Ipo Dam.
Position: Waypoint 006 at the map above.

The most disheartening fact is that most of the tablon were floated and collected
at the Anginan log pan where many well-meaning private organizations and
groups in Metro Manila had a contract with the local people to assist them in
reforesting denuded areas, as well as to help in protecting newly planted trees.

The group estimate, based on the amount of activity going on within the
watershed and the sheer lack of any measure to protect or even manage the
watershed, that Ipo Watershed will be completely denuded within 5 years time.

One of the numerous kaingin sites that the composite team was able to document.
In principle, no human activity should be allowed within watersheds. Farming –
even if it were subsistence, raising livestock or poultry, all contribute to the
degradation of the water supply due to contamination by runoff water. The
clearing of trees inevitably leads to soil erosion which deposits heavy silt on the
upstream side of dams, adversely affecting its water holding capacity. The
increased reflectivity of sunlight from barren land warms up the atmosphere,
reduces and disperses clouds, and may eventually cause a decrease in rainfall.
Trees keep the water supply in a watershed intact. Likewise, heavily silted water
places undue strain on water treatment infrastructures making it much more
expensive to bring clean water into households.

Every activity that should not be allowed in watersheds are actually happening
within the boundaries of Ipo Watershed at alarming frequencies. If these are
allowed to continue and no action is taken to reverse the damage done, then
Metro Manila will have to bear with rising cost of potable water, disruption in
supplies, and unrest amongst the poor who may no longer be able to afford the
cost of having clean water brought to their homes.

The team believes there is a need for the Department of Environment and Comment: We feel that DENR must be
held accountable for its lack of concrete
Natural Resources to be held accountable for the continued rampant destruction action to address illegal logging and
and unregulated activities within the Ipo Watershed. illegal settlements within the Ipo
Watershed.

However, on a more constructive note,

we also believe that DENR needs all the
help it can get to receive a budget that
could support intensified operations to
preserve and protect our remaining
forests and watersheds.

As it stands, the Department still believes

that the best way to address the issues
surrounding Ipo is to create a Task Force
once again to look into the problem.

Ipo needs forest guards who would

actually “guard” the watershed. They
need to be deputized, be well-funded and
well-equipped. Ipo needs fences to block
out informal settlers whose idea of
farming is to burn whole mountains bare.
It needs funding to survey inhabitants and
relocate people who have no right to be
there.

Ipo needs a clearer legal framework for

its management and for prosecuting
illegal loggers, miners and perpetrators of
other such unauthorized activities within
the watershed.

Finally, it needs funding and the

awareness of people in Metro Manila on
how important Ipo Watershed is to their
well-being and future, in its rehabilitation
and subsequent “rainforestation”
(reforestation with endemic and local tree
varieties, rather than fast growing and
highly invasive foreign varieties).