Cagayan eyes illegal logging TF

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan – The provincial government is set to form a multi-agency task force aimed to end the age-old problem of illegal logging, which reportedly had gone worse, even invading a national government protected forest areas here.

Gov. Alvaro Antonio yesterday tagged those behind the rampant illegal cutting of trees here as “influential top-level people.” 

Antonio said he expects to finalize the composition of the anti-illegal logging task force soon to show to those behind the raping of the environment that “we mean business.”

“Hopefully, the (task force), which will be deputized and tasked to enforce the laws protecting our environment, especially our forest lands, would already be in place (soon),” he said.

The creation of the said task force came in the wake of reported unabated illegal cutting of trees, including within the foreign-assisted Peñablanca National Park and other government protected forest areas here.

Only recently, authorities had intercepted more than 15,000 board feet of common hardwood like molave, tindalo and narra in Pamplona, Peñablanca, Solana and Lallo towns, bolstering reports that timber poaching was very much active in the province.

The provincial board led by Vice Gov. Leonides Fausto came out with a proposed ordinance prohibiting the transport of lumber products during night time.

Earlier, environment officials said they were having a hard time securing the province’s remaining 110-hectare of forestlands, including Cagayan’s Sierra Madre Mountains from timber poachers with only 14 government forest rangers.

Antonio said that most people in the province know who are those involved in the illegal activity as belonging to the so-called “influential top-level people.”

“These people belong to the top (echelon) of society and it is our plan to talk to them,” he said, adding however, that this would be more in the manner of warning them to stop their illegal activities.