Isabela town mayor in hot water over 'hot lumber'

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines – The discovery of allegedly undocumented lumber during a raid on his 30-hectare farm last week may place an Isabela town mayor in hot water.

San Mariano Mayor Edgar Go, however, denied any involvement in illegal logging and denounced the raid as “overkill.”

However, the provincial anti-illegal logging task force, which was accompanied by Gov. Grace Padaca herself during the June 10 raid, said Go may still be charged for violation of Presidential Decree 705, or the Anti-Illegal Logging Law, for the 16 pieces of allegedly hot lumber found in his farm.

“There is enough ground to charge the mayor (for illegal logging) regardless of the volume of undocumented lumber found in his farm,” the task force said.

The raiding team also found old logging equipment, which the mayor though said had been idle since the logging moratorium in the 1980s.

The task force has filed illegal logging charges against three men as a result of last week’s series of anti-illegal logging operations in San Mariano town.

“We have been successful in our operation, although the (volume of hot) lumber (found) was not as big as in our (previous operations),” Padaca said.

She said their efforts are devoid of politics and are “all about saving the environment.”

Denouncing the raid on his farm, Go said, “I was voted by the people as mayor and they see this happening to me. We are being treated badly.”