PERCEPTION OF THE RESIDENTS OF SOFRONIO ESPAÑOLA, PALAWAN

ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF R.A 9175 OTHERWISE KNOWN AS

CHAINSAW ACT

INTRODUCTION
This study addressed the issue on the effectiveness of the municipal government
of Sofronio Española on addressing the illegal-logging practices present on their
municipality that may brought a massive forest loss, through the implementation of anti-
illegal logging policy, specifically the violations of R.A No. 9175 otherwise the
Chainsaw Act by analyzing the perceptions of the selected residents of Sofronio Española
regarding the implementation of the aforesaid environmental law.
Analyzing the perceptions of both the local residents and the implementers
themselves is one of the best methods to have a basis on how the communities assess the
implementation process of the policy, the performance of the implementers, if there is
still a need of intervention for a better outcome.
Overall, understanding the perspectives of the communities involved in
implementation and their perceptions about certain impacts is valuable for those
developing and designing future interventions which aim to improve the local
environment and policy implementation. It also aids understanding of the role and impact
of community engagement approaches in this type of intervention (Adams, 2018).
Tracking the perception of the people is very significant in evaluating the present
scenario, making the government system more reliable and constant when it has been
derived from the experiences. Thus, the analyzation of the residents’ perception of the
effectiveness of implementing anti-illegal logging law is vital in making the municipality
sustainable.
On the idea raised above, this paper aims to investigate the effectiveness of the
local government units assigned on implementing R.A 9175 otherwise known as
Chainsaw Act in the municipality of Sofronio Española in the southern part of Palawan,
by knowing the perception of the local officials and the local residents, as well as
analyzing the significant difference between the two sets of respondents.
METHODOLOGY
This research is a quantitative research that uses different statistical tools such as
frequency counts, weighted mean, and T-test to analyze the effectiveness of the anti-
illegal logging policy in Sofronio Española.
RESULT & DISCUSSION
Perception of the Local Officials of Sofronio Española on the Effectiveness of the
implementation of RA No. 9175. The data revealed that the local officials are aware on
R.A No. 9175 entitled “An act Regulating the Ownership, Possession, Sale, Importation,
and use of Chainsaws, Penalizing Violation thereof and for other purposes” also known
as the Chainsaw Act as perceived by the local officials. As part of the task force
enforcing the mentioned law and other related policies to prevent massive illegal logging
in Sofronio Española, by some means the researchers visualized that the local officials
have the high probability to get the alleged level of awareness.
Perception of the Local Residents of Sofronio Española on the Effectiveness of
the implementation of RA No. 9175. The overall data showed (Table 2.a and 2.b) that the
Local Residents perceived the LGU of Sofronio Española as part of Anti-Illegal Logging
Local Task Force are effective on leading the anti-illegal logging campaign in the
municipality by ensuring the strict implementation of R.A 9175 within their municipality.
Significant Difference between the Perceptions of Local Officials and Local
Residents. The researchers failed to reject the null hypothesis stating that “there is no
relationship on analyzing the significant difference between the perceptions of the local
officials and the local residents on the effectiveness of anti-illegal logging policy in
Sofronio Española” as based on the result of the T-test statistical analysis applied to this
study.