DENR warns vs fake officials, employees

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) warned the public against impostors claiming to be officials or representatives of ranking officials of the agency in order to solicit funds.

In an April 5 memorandum, DENR Undersecretary for Field Operations Demetrio Ignacio Jr. told all regional executive directors, bureau directors and heads of attached agencies to warn the public against “any solicitations allegedly by the DENR.”

“This refers to reports that certain individuals/parties are misrepresenting Secretary Ramon Paje and the undersigned or our offices and soliciting funds for various purposes,” Ignacio said. “These activities are fraudulent and strictly unauthorized.”

He added that Undersecretary Manuel Gerochi also reported that he and the Policy and Planning Office had been used in similar scams.

The warning was issued following a report that a businessman bought on April 2 a total of 10 tickets worth P10,000 each for a benefit dinner from an alleged police general, supposedly at the prodding of Ignacio.

The businessman claimed he bought the tickets after he received a call from someone who introduced himself as “Undersecretary Ignacio” urging him to support the event slated on April 30.

Ignacio also expressed alarm over an incident last Jan. 17 when the DENR Region 11 office received a phone call, supposedly from Undersecretary Rafael Santos of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), asking for a complete list of names and contact numbers of all wood processing plants in the provinces of Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley.

The caller said no less than President Aquino had instructed him to get the list from DENR Region 11 executive director Joselin Marcus Fragada, who checked with Santos’ office and found that neither Santos nor any of his staff made calls to the regional director and that the orders from Aquino did not exist.