Hot lumber escorted by government vehicle seized

DINGALAN, Aurora, Philippines – Operatives of “Task Force Sagip Kalikasan” have scored anew following the seizure of two truckloads of illegally sawn lumber at a checkpoint here last week.

The operation, however, was half-successful after the truck drivers, whose vehicles were allegedly escorted by a red-plated government vehicle, were able to escape midnight Friday.

Gov. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo has ordered an investigation into reports that not a single personnel of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources was around during the operation.

The DENR, through its community environment and natural resources office, is part of the seven-man task force that mans the Dingalan checkpoint in Barangay Caragsacan that Angara-Castillo put up last month.

Angara-Castillo said the operation showed the provincial government’s resolve in putting a stop to illegal logging in this town at all cost, no matter who gets hurt.

“We will stop at nothing to put an end to illegal logging in Dingalan and as I have always said, there will be no sacred cows,” she said.

Joseph Usita, national chairman of the Noble Blue Falcons International, a non-government organization tapped as a member of the task force, said the operation led to the seizure of 1,075 pieces of assorted lumber, with a total volume of 10,367 board feet.

Angara-Castillo said the fact that the trucks were being escorted by a government vehicle indicated that some government men might have been in cahoots with illegal loggers.

“Our all-out campaign against illegal logging will unmask rogues in uniform and we will not waver in our commitment to preserve the remaining largest forest cover in the country today,” she said.

She said she has ordered Senior Superintendent Romulo Esteban, provincial police director, to intensify police involvement in the anti-illegal logging campaign.

Last Friday’s haul was the second in 10 days by the task force, which also seized 29 pieces of tangile with a volume of 424 board feet at a checkpoint in Barangay Villa, Ma. Aurora town last July 8.