Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNO) is offering security training programs for forest rangers following the attack on two forest guards of the Masungi Georeserve in Rizal on July 24.
He said the attack on the two forest rangers of Masungi Georeserve was not the first case of harassments, threats and even deaths of forest rangers, citing a number of cases in Palawan and other parts of the country.
The two forest rangers survived the attack but are both in critical condition.
“I have already instructed the head of our Training Service to coordinate with the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) for the possible training of forest rangers on self defense, threat detection and other personal safety trainings,” said Eleazar.
Eleazar’s statement was in response to the call of the Masungi Georeserve Foundation for the protection, saying it was not the first time that their forest rangers were attacked.
He said he also ordered a thorough investigation on the incident.
“Forest rangers play an important role in the implementation of our environmental laws especially in protected areas and particularly in protecting forest from illegal logging and other activities that destroy the environment,” said Eleazar.
“We will not allow that they turn into sitting targets,” he added.