Truckers join drive vs. illegal logging

Around 56 truck operators Cebu City have joined the campaign against illegal logging after they forged an alliance with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources by alerting local forestry officers of suspected undocumented timber products being smuggled into the province.

The Cebu Truckers Association, Inc., whose member-operators command a fleet of around 400 trucks that deliver an average of 300 container vans daily, signed a memorandum of agreement with DENR for the said endeavor.

DENR Secretary Angelo Reyes said that this partnership is long overdue since Cebu for a long time now has been classified as an illegal logging hotspot owing to its being a major off-point for undocumented forest products shipped by big-time illegal logging operators.

He said the DENR classifies an illegal-logging hotspot area either as areas where illegal cutting is frequent or as major transshipment hubs of illegally cut timber products bound for Manila and even for the provinces.

Under the agreement, CTAI-accredited operators and truck drivers will inform authorities of suspicious deliveries of container vans they believe to be loaded with smuggled timber but are not declared in their transport documentation.

CTAI president Albert Go said the partnership makes business sense since it would definitely remove disruptions arising from roadside apprehensions and even court cases.

Go said there are reports from their members about deliveries of container vans declared as used bottles or corn grains but were delivered to sawmills and lumberyards prompting his group to respond to Reyes' call for greater citizen participation in DENR's efforts against illegal logging.

Under the Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines, vehicles carrying undocumented forest products are likewise seized by authorities, and their owners, including the drivers are also held criminally liable.

For its part, the DENR will train CTAI-members on how to detect tampered transport documents like certificate of origin and transport permit issued by the DENR. It will also give legal assistance to CTAI, especially if information fed by its members result in the seizure of the shipment and in the filing of cases against shippers.

Isabelo Montejo, DENR Regional Technical director for Forestry in Central Visayas, said most of the illegal shipment reaching Cebu's shores have been traced to have come from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Surigao del Norte , Surigao del Sur , and even the neighboring island province of Bohol.

Montejo bared that last year alone, his office apprehended some 38 20-foot container vans loaded with illegal timber shipped from ARMM worth around P10 million.

Cebu City operates eight port areas and is noted overseas for the fine furniture exported by the province's furniture shops to rich countries like the Unites States, Germany and Japan. - Jasmin R. Uy