DENR seizes ‘hot logs’ worth P6M in Quezon

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has confiscated P6 million-worth of illegally cut logs in Quezon, following a series of anti-illegal logging operations in the province.

The DENR also seized two chainsaws, believed to be used in cutting most of the logs, that were abandoned by the illegal loggers, who escaped; and raided several furniture manufacturers in General Nakar town, where it also confiscated lumber and flitches that were well-hidden outside the furniture makers’ compound.

Reports reaching the DENR Central Office in Visayas Avenue, Quezon City showed that the seized logs were estimated at 120,000 board feet, consisting of lauan and narra wood, and other forest products from decade-old trees.

The undocumented logs and lumber were piled at the Kasibu Sawmill in Brgy. Kiloloron in Real, Quezon, which was earlier padlocked for using illegally sourced logs.

DENR field officers in the region are currently continuing its anti-illegal logging operation in the province.

Checkpoints at Brgy. Tignoan and Lavac were likewise put on red alert to intercept illegally-acquired forest products.

"We will continue to intensify our assault on illegal loggers in pursuit of the government’s campaign against illegal logging," said DENR Secretary Heherson Alvarez, who checked on the confiscated items yesterday in Real, Quezon.

The latest seizure of the chainsaws and ‘hot logs’ came a week after President Arroyo signed into law Republic Act 9175, otherwise known as the Chainsaw Act that gives the DENR more teeth to go after illegal loggers.

Alvarez said that government must regulate the sale and use of chainsaws to diminish the destruction of the country’s already denuded forests.

According to the DENR, the use of chainsaws by illegal loggers in cutting the trees allow them to operate quickly and cover large areas of forests in a short span of time. — Katherine Adraneda