Anti-illegal logging task force head shot in Butuan

BUTUAN CITY — The chief operations officer of Task Force Kalikasan, a people’s organization campaigning against illegal logging in the Caraga region, was shot and wounded near his house here Tuesday night.

Senior Superintendent Ramon Espiritu, city police chief, said the victim, Romeo Pacot, 55, is now in the intensive care unit of a local hospital.

Three men attacked Pacot near his residence in Barangay Buhangin just a few meters away from the Magsaysay Bridge, and then casually walked away and boarded a motorcycle, witnesses said.

Espiritu told The STAR Pacot had received death threats, although he did not report them to the police.

Officials of Task Force Kalikasan have claimed that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has accredited their group as a private citizen’s watchdog supposedly against illegal logging in the region.

Doubts, however, were raised on the credibility of private environmental groups installing checkpoints because of alleged extortion.

There were also complaints about the growing number of checkpoints monitoring forest products in the region following reports that some wood firms have been using regulated wood or logs mixed with hardwood species such as narra and yakal which are not allowed to be cut and transported without permits.