14 illegal loggers get jail terms

Fourteen persons involved in the illegal transport of at least 2,500 board feet of illegally cut lumber were recently meted long jail terms by regional trial courts (RTCs) in Tarlac and Bulacan.

Reports reaching the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Quezon City revealed that 11 illegal loggers in Tarlac were sentenced to 17 years in jail while the three illegal loggers in Bulacan were sentenced to a maximum of six years.

DENR Secretary Angelo Reyes lauded the RTC judges in the cities of Tarlac and Malolos for their rulings against the illegal loggers.

"The decisions of (the judges) show that the courts can be our real ally in our continuing campaign against violators of forestry laws," Reyes said. "This encourages us to work harder to attain our goal of leaving enough forests for the next generations."

DENR executive director for Central Luzon Regidor de Leon said that Tarlac City Judge Arsenio Adriano found Myrna Rubino, Maximon Rubino, Shane Anthony Albano, Larry Blanco, Nestor Pano, Danny Tabuli, Leonardo Raguingan, Emily Ulep, Rita Santos, Mariano Rabana, and Cely Santiago, guilty of violating Section 68 of the Revised Forestry Code.

According to De Leon, a DENR forest protection team led by Avelino Bacallo apprehended the group, who had been in the DENR watchlist of illegal loggers, in Gerona, Tarlac on October 5, 2003.

He said the group was boarding a truck loaded with 2,500-board feet of narra flitches worth P250,000 when cornered by authorities. The narra flitches were concealed under sacks of rice husks and rice bran.

On the other hand, Malolos Judge Renato Francisco convicted Eugenio Salvador Tigas, Rodolfo Angeles, and Celso Solargo Selgas who were found in possession of P12,000-worth of lumber. The DENR said the three pleaded guilty during their arraignment before the Malolos RTC.

Members of the DENR-Region 3 Forest Protection and Law Enforcement Unit apprehended the three men while conducting monitoring operations at the forested Barangay Sabang in Angat, Bulacan.

The DENR said the three men were aboard a six-wheeler Elf Truck, with license plate WFW-708, loaded with some 115 pieces of cut timber, which were believed to have been illegally-cut inside the forest of the Angat Watershed, a protected area.