Illegal logging back in Dingalan?

DINGALAN, Aurora – Illegal logging has reportedly resumed with wild abandon in this coastal town although the local office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said this was part of retrieval operations allowed by the agency to recover logs felled in calamities in 2004.

Local folk who spoke on condition of anonymity told The STAR that illegal logging has gone unabated, particularly in Barangay Umiray at the boundary of Quezon and Aurora.

One of The STAR sources disclosed that on Tuesday night, at least 10 10-wheeler trucks loaded with “freshly cut” tablon (flitches) – estimated at 12,000 board feet per truck – left the town.

The truck drivers were reportedly allowed by the DENR to pass through checkpoints after showing permits signed by a former ranking DENR official.

“May lumber dealers na kausap ‘yung tao tapos pirmado ng DENR kaya lumalabas na legal (They had negotiations with lumber dealers and had papers signed by the DENR so it appeared to be legal),” one of the sources claimed.

One of the trucks reportedly turned on its side while passing through Palayan City in Nueva Ecija.

Meliton Vicente, DENR’s Dingalan community environment and natural resources officer, however, told The STAR that the logs on board the 10 trucks that left Dingalan town Tuesday night, were among those retrieved.

“Legal ‘yan (That’s legal), that’s documented,” Vicente said, adding that the cargo was part of the 1,200 cubic meters of logs that serve as payment of Siriporn Enterprises (SE), the contractor hired by the DENR’s Natural Resources Development Corp. (NRDC) which supervised the retrieval of the logs washed out by landslides in 2004.

Around 5,000 cubic meters of felled logs were reportedly retrieved, part of which were distributed to 776 families by a committee organized by the DENR and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Mayor Zenaida Padiernos echoed Vicente’s statements, saying the logs were old stocks.

“Mga naanod lang ‘yon. ‘Yon ang alam ko (They were logs that got drifted. That’s as far as I know),” she said.

But a STAR source disputed the claims of Vicente and Padiernos, saying the logs could not have been part of those retrieved since they were freshly cut.

Siriporn, which operates a mini sawmill, was hired by the NRDC to hasten the cutting of the logs since it could not afford to hire a big sawmill for lack of funds.

Aside from Siriporn, a cooperative from Umiray was also reportedly involved in the retrieval operations.     

Eddie Ojeda, vice chairman of the Justice and Peace Action Group (JPAG) which had been critical of illegal logging in Dingalan, said the retrieval permit issued by the DENR would naturally result in rampant illegal logging in the town.