By Sandara Sidlakan
Front 30 Command, NPA Northeastern Mindanao Region
Other versions: Undangon ang SUDECOR, ang nahabiling higanteng tigguba sa kalasangan (Bisaya)
Pahintuin ang SUDECOR, ang natitirang dambuhalang tagapaminsala ng kagubatan (Pilipino)
Pahunungon an SUDECOR, an nahisasalin nga higante nga tagapaghibang han kagugub-an (Waray)
We must put a stop to the Surigao Development Corp.'s (SUDECOR) continued destruction and denudation of the forests of Surigao del Sur. It has deprived both Lumad and non-Lumad people of their livelihood since the 1950s. It is owned by the big bourgeois comprador Puyat family that has been in cahoots with the DENR in perpetrating illegal methods of logging in order to rake in huge profits.
To continue amassing such gargantuan profits, the company has set up a Special Civilian Auxiliary Army (SCAA). Not content with this, a company of the 58th IB PA has virtually been assigned permanently within SUDECOR.
Only 3,000 hectares of virgin forest remain out of a total 69,000 hectares. Huge lawaan trees are indiscriminately cut through the illegal method of "bulldozer dragging" where more than 30 bulldozers destroy mountains and denude the forests on a daily basis. This has resulted in landslides that have been rapidly destroying rivers that have also been drying up during summer and flooding during the rainy season. Animals have also been losing their habitats whenever streams run dry.
The Lumad, as well as farmers and workers have been reduced to wretchedness due to the destruction of the environment. In exchange, the Puyat family in cahoots with DENR officials, the military and politicians have been reaping big profits in their insatiable greed for the forest's bounty.
We call on all those affected to support the demand to put an immediate stop to the operations of SUDECOR.
Unite to stop the operations of this Puyat-owned company!
Advance the armed struggle!
Long live the people's democratic revolution!
