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| Illegally-gathered lauan lumber with a volume of 10,335 board feet and estimated worth PHP292,533 are seized by the Community Environment and Natural Resources of Tubod town, Surigao del Norte, on Sunday evening at a quarantine checkpoint in Alegria town. Two suspects were arrested. (Photo from: DENR-13 Information Office) |
[아시아뉴스통신=페이 기자] Authorities seized a 10-wheeler truck transporting around 597 pieces of illegally-cut lumber on Sunday evening (Aug. 16) at a checkpoint in Barangay Gamuton, Alegria town, Surigao del Norte. The confiscated lauan lumber has a total volume of 10,335 board feet, said Joseph Leo Oconer, chief of the Community Environment and Natural Resources in the neighboring town of Tubod, in a report on Monday (Aug. 17).
“The illegal lumber products have no documents when the driver and his assistant worker were asked by the military at the checkpoint enforcing health protocol measures on COVID-19," Oconer said. He added that the lumber products came from the town of Lianga in Surigao del Sur, and they are checking reports that the owner of the apprehended illegal lumber products is a prominent civic leader in that town. The truckload of lauan lumbers was bound for Cebu City via the Lipata port in Surigao City, he added.
Herzon Gallego of the information office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the Caraga Region (DENR-13) said the confiscated lumber products had a total value of PHP292,533 while the wing-van truck used as an accessory has an assessed value of PHP1.5 million.
“The law enforcement units in the municipal and provincial levels are active in performing their duties and responsibilities in safeguarding our forests,” Gallego told Philippine News Agency on Monday. Gallego said that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, DENR law enforcers are present in quarantine checkpoints to ensure that illegally-gathered forest products are confiscated and those responsible arrested.
