CATHOLIC BISHOP ROLANDO Tria Tirona, head of the Prelature of Infanta, has been deputized by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to oversee two environmental watchdog bodies to fight illegal logging in the Sierra Madre mountain ranges.

In a press release posted at the DENR website Wednesday, Environment Secretary Lito Atienza disclosed the appointment of Tirona as ‘co-chair’ of the two newly created multipartite teams (MPT) to help combat the rampant illegal logging.

The MPTs, said the DENR, have been authorized to devise monitoring schemes within the Sierra Madre area in parts of northern Quezon and Aurora provinces.

Atienza said Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officers (Penro) Herminigildo Jocson for Quezon and Benjamin Mina for Aurora will work with Tirona.

The teams also include Fr. Pete Montallana of the Indigenous Peoples Apostolate of the Diocese of Infanta and head of the Church-based environmentalist group Task Force Sierra Madre (TFSM), and environmental lawyer Shiela de Leon of Tanggol Kalikasan-Southern Tagalog.

The citizen’s arm was created after Tirona and a delegation from northern Quezon met with President Macapagal-Arroyo recently in Malacañang.

The teams are authorized to arrest suspected illegal loggers, said the DENR chief.

A total of 26 members comprise the MPT Quezon, which includes Infanta Mayor Grace America, Real Mayor Joel Diestro, General Nakar Mayor Leovegildo Ruzol and several local DENR officials in the province. At least five Catholic priests have also been named as members of the team.

Montallana has been appointed member of the 13-man MPT for Aurora which also includes two Catholic priests and local environment officials.

The MPT is authorized to recommend “any or all of its members and any person” to be deputized as Environment and Natural Resources Officers, said the DENR statement.

Deputized Environment and Natural Resources Officers (Denros) are non-DENR officers authorized by the environment secretary to run after violators of environmental laws in the absence of authorized DENR personnel.

Denros are even authorized to arrest violators without a warrant for offenses under Presidential Decree 705 or the Revised Philippine Forestry Code and seize equipment used in illegal logging.

In April, Atienza relieved former Dingalan-Cenro Meliton Vicente after confirming reports from Montallana’s group which said that illegal logging in Dingalan, Aurora, had resumed.