Maranaw loggers charged over P30-M hot lumber

COTABATO CITY ,Philippines  – Authorities have filed criminal charges against two groups of Maranaw loggers for allegedly smuggling P30 million worth of lumber from protected watersheds in Lanao del Sur.

Charged with economic sabotage and illegal logging were groups based in Tamparan town and Marawi City.

In his report to the Office of the Regional Governor (ORG) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Col. Daniel Lucero, commander of the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade, said some of the accused are elected officials and barangay leaders.

Lucero is the commander of the Army-led anti-crime Task Force Ranao, tasked by ARMM’s officer-in-charge, Mujiv Hataman, to enforce a total logging ban in Lanao del Sur.

Task Force Ranao has seized more than 40 truckloads of illegally sawn lumber since last month.

Meanwhile in Nueva Ecija, authorities confiscated at least 4,894 board feet of illegally sawn lumber from a residential compound in Barangay Pulong Matong in General Tinio town.     – With Ric Sapnu