CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources, together with other law enforcement agencies, intercepted over 13,000 board feet of illegally cut logs in General Tinio, Nueva Ecija over the weekend, a report said on Tuesday.
A composite team from the DENR, Nueva Ecija Police Provincial Office (NEPPO), local police station of General Tinio, and the Philippine Army’s 84th Infantry Battalion conducted an operation in Brgy. Pias and Rio Chico in General Tinio town.
Gerundio Fernandez, provincial chief of the DENR office in Nueva Ecija, said that the illegal loggers immediately escaped and abandoned the cut logs of Tanguile and Mayapis along the Sumacbao riverbank when they noticed the arriving authorities.
“Illegal loggers took advantage of the high level of water in Sumacbao River brought by heavy rainfalls. Confiscated logs were kept afloat and transported to the downstream of the river using balsa,” Fernandez stressed.
The woods that have a corresponding value of over P800,000 were brought to the municipal compound of General Tinio and NEPPO for temporary custody and safekeeping.
Both the DENR and NEPPO were in the process of filing criminal cases against the identified culprits for violation of Presidential Decree 705, otherwise known as the Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines.
The DENR, on the other hand, is initiating administrative adjudication of the case.
For now, forest rangers and protection officers of the DENR are deployed in the area to strictly monitor potential movement of contrabands.
There is a possibility that illegal loggers may operate again to transport remaining logs through the Sumacbao River.
This year, the DENR, along with said law enforcement partners, has conducted 85 operations leading to the interception of over P3.5-million worth of suspected illegal forest products.
Aside from strengthening the Regional Anti-Illegal Logging Task Force, the DENR has worked closely and sustained active partnerships with 7th Infantry Division, 703rd Infantry Brigade, First Scout Ranger Regiment, and 3rd Regional Community Defense Group of the Army, Philippine National Police, LGUs and indigenous groups to boost the government’s forest and wildlife protection programs, particularly in saving the remaining forests of Central Luzon.
The DENR official appealed to the public to report these concerns to the nearest DENR office in their area or contact the DENR hotline at (0945) 368 5303.