A bishop in Manila said today that government officials who have allowed illegal logging and mining should be held accountable for flooding that has killed more than 1,000 people in northern Mindanao.

Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo of Manila, chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Commission on Social Action, Justice and Peace, said there was a link between environmental degradation and flooding that has devastated parts of the country this month.

“The Department of Environment and Natural Resources, national and local officials who issued permits for mining and logging activities should be held accountable,” the bishop said.

“May this serve as a lesson for us to take good care of our environment,” he said. “There is a so-called log ban but the cutting of trees is still rampant in the Sierra Madre mountains.”

Tropical storm Washi ravaged 789 villages in 13 provinces, leaving 1,257 people dead, according to an update yesterday from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

Archbishop Angel Lagdameo of Jaro described the tragedy as a “man-made disaster” aggravated by “lack of political will.”

“We have enough laws but we don’t have political will. We only look at the immediate gain and profit.”

Some 83,537 families or 444,819 persons are currently in need of immediate relief assistance. Among them, almost 11,000 families are in evacuation centers.

Bishop Elenito Galido of Iligan said aside from food, there is an immediate need to prevent diseases.

“Affected families needed ‘portalets’ for sanitation and water tablets to purify water. This will help prevent water-borne diseases,” he said.