LUCENA CITY-Catholic Church leaders of the three towns in northern Quezon assailed the alleged "secrecy" surrounding the approval of the controversial 34,660 hectares of Integrated Forestry Management Agreement (Ifma) in the Sierra Madre mountains. "That Ifma was kept secret to the people who would be directly affected by the consequential tree-cutting. Most part of the said Ifma area is also an established ancestral homeland of the Agta. The Ifma grant was not given due consultation with the natives based on existing laws that protect the rights of the indigenous tribes," said the joint pastoral statement of priests Osee Molde, Mario Establecida and Israel Gabriel of the Infanta, Real and General Nakar parishes of the Infanta Prelature. The granting of the Ifma to Timberland Forest Products Inc., which is owned by one Wilson Ng, was earlier strongly opposed by Quezon Rep. Rafael Nantes. In a letter dated Feb. 24, 2003 to Environment Secretary Elisa Gozun, Nantes claimed that the Ifma application did not satisfy all the requirements of the DENR. He said the Ifma was processed although there were other applicants and was hastily approved by former DENR secretary Heherson Alvarez sometime in November last year without prior consultation with the concerned local government units, the community and other stakeholders in the area. "We understand that the Ifma will involve cutting operations and if it will be the case, we are afraid that illegal loggers and other businessmen will connive with each other to take advantage of the situation," Nantes said in his letter. He said this had been an experience in the past where illegal loggers and other "greedy businessmen ride in on logging companies in their activities." "In short, the Ifma might serve as front of timber smugglers," Nantes said. Nantes noted that Quezon province was under a logging ban and hence, commercial logging should be strictly banned.He appealed to Gozun to look into the matter very urgently. He said he and Tipan, a multi-sectoral group chaired by Bishop Julio Xavier Labayen, strongly opposed the approval of the Ifma granted to Ng and requested its immediate cancellation to save the remaining forest from destruction. The three priests called on the officials of General Nakar to withdraw their support for the Ifma granted to Ng. They also asked the DENR to reveal all the existing government-sanctioned reforestation activities inside the Sierra Madre in northern Quezon. During their last regular session, members of the Quezon provincial council called for the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission to investigate the officials of General Nakar who adopted a resolution dated Dec. 23, 2002 declaring support for Ng's application more than one month after the Ifma was approved. Delfin Mallari Jr., PDI Southern Luzon Bureau.