DENR chief eyes relief of police force in Mauban

Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Michael Defensor is poised to recommend the relief of the entire police force detailed in Mauban, Quezon after P4.2-million worth of illegally-cut lumber were confiscated over the weekend in the province.

Defensor expressed disbelief that police authorities failed to monitor the transport of the illegally-sourced timber in the area even as he noted that the police station in the province is located along the highway, which serve as the only entry and exit point for trucks conveying the wood.

"I find it really impossible that the police would not see and would not know about the transport of the timber considering that it is just a small community," Defensor said.

Although Defensor said that the policemen currently assigned in the area deserve a second chance, he noted that he is still inclined to request to the Philippine National Police that the entire police force in Mauban be taken out if such incident would happen again.

"I will write a strong letter to the leadership of the PNP and suggest to them that the basis of performance for the detailing and taking out of police forces in the area should be the illegal logging front," he said.

On Monday, the anti-illegal logging team of the DENR, in coordination with the Philippine Army in Southern Quezon, confiscated P4.2-million worth of first-class timber being transported along the Mauban Highway in Brgy. Daunga.

The contraband was intercepted by authorities following a two-day stakeout. 

The cut lumber, numbering to 38, 000 board feet, were loaded on a 10-wheeler truck, and are believed to be bound for a warehouse in a nearby barangay also in Mauban, which is reportedly being used by a cooperative engaged in furniture-making in the town.

Also found in the truck were a chainsaw, a wooden engine-powered banca, and other tools used in makeshift sawmills such as table saw and band saw.

In a report to Defensor, Task Force Sagip Kalikasan (TFSK) head Ret. Gen. Alfonso Dagudag said the cut lumbers were smuggled from Isabela and Cagayan provinces, where the Northern Sierra Madre Range is located.

DENR’s Director for Special Concern Office and Deputy Head of TFSK, Nilo Tamoria, said illegal loggers deem Mauban as an ideal spot for the transportation of the illegally-sourced logs.

Tamoria noted that the logs were being transported through the river from Isabela, which were then transferred to bancas via the Pacific Ocean and then to Mauban where trucks take them for delivery to various points in Luzon, including Metro Manila.

Tamoria also revealed the new modus operandi of illegal loggers in Quezon, saying that trucks transporting the lumber now use two license plates in their operation to confuse authorities.

The TFSK likewise arrested truck driver Rogelio Unlayao, 40, of Brgy. Bagongbayan, Mauban.  The DENR said Unlayao was the same person they arrested on October 2004 for also conveying illegally-sourced lumber.

Unlayao was reportedly out on bail after being charged with illegal logging by the TFSK last year in violation of Presidential Decree 705.

The truck (RAV-249) and the cut lumber were now impounded at the DENR Central Office in Visayas Avenue, Quezon City.

Meanwhile, Defensor said that a certain Roselyn Banagan was identified as involved in the transport of the illegally-cut wood in Mauban.

Banagan has two pending cases of illegal logging in court after three warehouses in Brgy. Bagongbayan were raided by the DENR anti-illegal logging team in October last year.

Banagan, along with a certain Martin Tampoc, are said to be the owners of the warehouses reportedly being operated by a Mauban-based cooperative engaged in furniture-making.