3 illegal loggers sentenced to 14 years in jail

MALOLOS, Bulacan — Three illegal loggers, caught with some 8,200 board feet of illegally cut logs from the Angat watershed a few months ago, have been sentenced to 14 years in jail.

In handing down the conviction, Regional Trial Court Judge Renato Francisco gave credence to the testimonies of employees of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the National Power Corp. (Napocor) who caught Mario Robia, Eugenio Garcia and Alfredo Merino inside the Angat watershed.

The "hot" logs seized from them were estimated to be worth some P200,000.

In a report to Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Heherson Alvarez, DENR regional executive director Gregorio Nisperos said their sustained anti-illegal logging operations in Central Luzon have yielded, in the past five months, a total of 184,940 board feet of forest contraband worth about P5 million.

This brings to 1,725,212 board feet the total volume of "hot" logs seized by the DENR in Central Luzon since 1995.

Forest conservation expert Fred Sadueste said that without the government’s reforestation and protection efforts, Central Luzon’s forests would vanish by the year 2050.