DENR to donate confiscated lumber to DepEd

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-7) is set to donate confiscated forest products worth P613, 944.24 to the Department of Education (DepEd) to be used for their school buildings and other related uses.

DENR Secretary Ramon Paje instructed Regional Director Maximo Dichoso to hasten the adjudication of cases involving illegally sourced and transported forest products in line with the present directive to donate them to the DepEd.

“Secretary Paje has ordered that all confiscated logs by the DENR, without court cases, will now be turned over to the Department of Education (DepEd) as one of his priority or flagship programs,” Dichoso said.

The forest products consist of mahogany, gemelina, bagalunga, makaasim, sangilo and acacia lumber pieces totaling 36,593.76 board feet.

Dichoso said the forest products were confiscated due to lack of necessary documents and requirements during transport and were deposited at the Community Environment and Natural Resources Offices (CENRO) in Tagbilaran City in Bohol; and in Pamplona and Ayungon, Negros Oriental.

The DepEd will use these donated lumber for the construction of various public school buildings or the manufacture of office fixtures, desks and tables.

As contained in the Deed of Donation, a certificate of completion of any DepEd project signed by the Project Engineer, supported with photographs and an itemization of forest products used in the project, will be submitted to DENR.

A Commission on Audit (COA) auditor will be invited to witness the turnover, for documentation and proper accounting purposes.

“A continuous inventory of seized forest products has been conducted to determine which are up for donation so that these could be useful as construction materials for school buildings, desks and tables,” Dichoso said. — (FREEMAN)