Angara welcomes suspension of log retrieval permits in Dingalan

DINGALAN, Aurora – Sen. Edgardo Angara, a native of this province, has welcomed the order of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Jose Atienza Jr. suspending the retrieval permits issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to a mini-sawmill operator and a local cooperative amid reports of rampant illegal logging in this town.

Angara said the suspension of the retrieval permits of Siriporn Enterprises  and the Southern Dingalan Multi-Purpose Cooperative (SDMPC) is a welcome development amid what he said was the apparent attempt of some “unscrupulous people to use their (permits) to denude the forests of Dingalan.”

“I think the DENR should cancel these permits altogether. There are no more derelict logs; they have all been recovered,” he told The STAR.

The senator from Baler was referring to Atienza’s recent order suspending the permits of Siriporn and SDMPC following the findings of an investigating team of “substantial evidence” that illegal logging existed here.

Earlier, Atienza directed DENR Central Luzon regional executive director Regidor de Leon to suspend the retrieval permits issued last July 30 by former Secretary Angelo Reyes.

Atienza also revoked the provisional mini-sawmill permit issued by the DENR Region 3 office to Siriporn last Sept. 5, stopped the issuance of transport documents for lumber products covered by the retrieval permit, and ordered the seizure of logs and lumber stocks that were part of the timber volume covered by the retrieval permit.

“There is substantial evidence to indicate or show the existence of illegal logging activities in Dingalan,” Atienza said.

Angara called on the media to be vigilant against fresh attempts to intensify illegal logging in this coastal town and the “seeming helplessness” of the local DENR people to stop it.

Since last month, there have been reports that illegal logging has resumed here, in the guise of retrieval operations allowed by the DENR to recover logs felled during calamities in 2004.

The illegal operations were reportedly being conducted in Barangay Umiray at the boundary of Quezon and Aurora.

A STAR source disclosed that truckloads of “freshly cut” tablon (flitches) were being shipped out of this town with the drivers showing permits supposedly signed by Reyes, making it appear that the transport was legal.

Meliton Vicente, DENR-Dingalan community environment and natural resources officer, claimed that the logs were part of those recovered in retrieval operations.

Vicente added that the logs served as payment to Siriporn, the contractor hired by the DENR’s Natural Resources Development Corp. to supervise the retrieval of logs felled during landslides in 2004. Around 5,000 cubic meters of logs were reportedly retrieved.

Persistent reports of illegal logging prompted the senator’s younger sister, Gov. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo, to personally supervise the inspection of truckloads of logs here recently.

During the surprise inspection, the governor intercepted three truckloads of logs whose drivers could not present retrieval permits, claiming they were on their way to pick up the documents.