‘Hot’ logs seized in Dinagat Island

SURIGAO CITY – Aides of Dinagat Islands Gov. Geral­dine Ecleo-Villaroman seized more than 3,600 board feet of illegal lumber in Barangay Boa, Cagdianao, Dinagat Islands yesterday, the Dinagat Provincial Information Office said.

The lumbers were from endangered hardwood species like magkono, yakal, red lawaan and doyok-doyok.

Earlier, the governor and her family claimed they were getting death threats after she launched an intensified anti-log poaching campaign in the island province, which is being groomed as an “eco-tourism center” in Caraga Region.

Villaroman claimed having received text messages from concerned citizens in Ba­rangay Boa after arriving from Manila that illegal lumbers were being shipped out at the shore of the said coastal barangay.

She ordered Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer Pencio Yu and his men, together with members of the Governor’s Media Relations Office, to check the veracity of the report.