House inquiry to pin down Lanao execs on illegal logging

MANILA, Philippines - The House of Representatives is set to conduct an inquiry into the reported involvement of local government officials, environment officers and police and military forces in the unabated illegal logging operations in Lanao del Sur despite the total logging ban.

The inquiry was prompted by House Resolution 2042 filed by Reps. Rufus Rodriguez (Cagayan de Oro City), Maximo Rodriguez (party-list Abante Mindanao) and Vicente Belmonte Jr. (Iligan City) that also extended the appreciation of the people of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities for President Aquino’s move to create a task force that will look into the cause of the devastation wreaked by tropical storm “Sendong” in Northern Mindanao.

Heavy rains brought about by Sendong caused major rivers to overflow, triggering flashfloods that killed over 1,200 people in the two cities and left more than a thousand others missing. 

Rodriguez said officials responsible for the illegal logging operations in Lanao del Sur, which aggravated the flashfloods, must be held accountable.

“We need to determine why the local officials are unaware of the logging operations in the area, or if they are aware, why they are turning a blind eye. We should also know if there are anomalies happening to the benefit of these loggers who violate the law,” he said.

In pushing for the probe, Rodriguez cited the report of Task Force Sendong created by Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao officer-in-charge Gov. Mujiv Hataman that the logs that killed many people at the height of the Dec. 17 flashfloods that swept through Iligan City may have come from the forestlands of Kapai and Tagoloan II towns in Lanao del Sur.

The task force said the logs were from the stockpile of Vicmar Development Corp., a Makati-based logging and plywood company that has operated in Lanao del Sur since 1975.