Lumber donations to Marawi residents await delivery

TALACOGON, Agusan del Sur — Some 30,000 board feet, or 8,000 pieces of lumber, from this province were now ready for donation to Marawi City residents who were left homeless by the war on a homegrown terror group that tried to turn the predominantly Muslim city into an Islamic State province.

Charlie Fabre, director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in the Caraga region, said his office was just waiting for a go-signal from President Rodrigo Duterte and Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu to deliver the lumber, from premium wood species, to Marawi to help in reconstruction efforts there.

Anthony Ebron, community environment and natural resources officer, said the lumber haul was part of the inventory of a wood processing company, Casilayan Softwood Development Corp. (CSDC), which held an integrated forest management agreement  that allowed holders to harvest trees that they had planted.

The pieces of lumber for donation are now at the CSDC stockyard and are the first batch of wood products intended for donation to Marawi City residents. Also for donation were at least 1,000 cubic meters of seized logs that have yet to be processed into lumber.

Other DENR offices in the Caraga region will also donate lumber, with Agusan del Sur offering 60 percent of the total volume, or 400,000 board feet, of wood products. —Chris V. Panganiban