LUCENA CITY, Philippines—The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in the Calabarzon (Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon province) has asked the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the contractor building the Marikina-Infanta road to help fight illegal logging in the Sierra Madre mountains.

In an interview on Tuesday, Nilo Tamoria, DENR regional director, said he had requested the DPWH and EC de Luna Construction to close the road to all vehicles, except those carrying construction materials. The road project is pending completion and would be turned over to the government.

Tamoria’s appeal came after DENR personnel and policemen in Baras town in Rizal stopped on Oct. 21 two dump trucks loaded with 16.53 cubic meters (7,007 board feet) of timber believed to have been illegally cut in the Sierra Madre.

Tamoria said the forest products were owned by a certain “Alma” and loaded into the vehicles near the Daranak Falls in Tanay town in Rizal.

The trucks, according to Tamoria, had just delivered sand from Porac town in Pampanga to the Marikina-Infanta road and loaded the illegally cut lumber on their way out of the project site.

Six people were charged in court, including SPO1 Ronnie Afacible, who was assigned to the Tanay police station and acting as escort to the trucks.

The Marikina-Infanta road project, which stretches from the Sumulong Highway in the provinces of Rizal and Laguna up to Infanta town in Quezon province, passes along the slopes of the Sierra Madre mountain range.

The DENR has been receiving reports that illegal loggers transport undocumented lumber in the guise of loading construction materials for the road project.

Tamoria said “hot” logs from the Sierra Madre used to be smuggled out through Tanay, but it was stopped with help from the DENR, military and multisectoral groups. Delfin T. Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon