NE mayor’s kin linked to illegal logging

CABANATUAN CITY – A supposed distant relative of the mayor of Gen. Tinio town has been linked to illegally felled lumber which operatives of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) seized while being transported in Sta. Rosa town Thursday night.

This, as the DENR reported that illegal logging has returned in Gen. Tinio.

Joselito Blanco, DENR community officer for Southern Nueva Ecija, told The STAR that a certain Jerry Bote, reportedly a distant relative of Mayor Virgilio Bote, owned the Nissan Terrano which blocked the DENR service vehicle that was on its way to the impounding area in Sta. Rosa to deliver some 3,400 board feet of contraband lumber from Gen. Tinio.

DENR forest rangers Alberto Miranda and August Farinas intercepted the truckload of illegal lumber in an operation in Barangay Soledad, Sta. Rosa town.

Blanco said the truck driver, Pablo del Valle, could not produce documents covering the lumber worth P169,000.

The truck and the lumber were being brought to the impounding area when the Nissan Terrano blocked the DENR vehicle. Bote reportedly ordered Del Valle to dump the lumber and flee.

Blanco said they have discovered that illegal logging has returned in Gen. Tinio, considered the hotbed of illegal logging in Nueva Ecija.

Illegal logging has persisted in the town despite past and present campaigns by the Army and the DENR. Local officials tried to stop the illegal activity in the past but were unsuccessful.

President Arroyo even unveiled a livelihood package for residents involved in illegal logging during a visit last year, but this failed as a deterrent.

The campaign against illegal logging in Gen. Tinio was spearheaded by former mayor Isidro Pajarillaga, who lost to Virgilio Bote, a former three-term mayor, in the recent elections.