ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines—Soldiers under the Task Force Ranao seized 25 truckloads of logs from three villages of Kapai in Lanao del Sur on Monday.
Brigadier General Daniel Lucero, also task force chief, said some of the logs were found in seven sawmills operated by a barangay (village) official, whom he did not identify.
Lucero described the illegal logging activities in the villages of Pindulunan, Dupao and Durotan as “widespread.”
“You will take pity of the mountains if you see how large the volume (of logs) is,” he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone.
Lucero said the seized logs would be used as evidence against the suspected loggers.
“We are going to consult a lawyer and our personnel are readying the charges against illegal loggers,” he said.
The renewed anti-logging drive in Lanao del Sur was part of the campaign launched by the government of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao following the devastating flood that swept through Iligan City on December 17.
Many of those who died in the incident were crushed to death by logs carried by the strong current.
Acting Governor Mujiv Hataman has deputized the military to help in the campaign.
In Cotabato City, documents obtained by the Inquirer showed that government officials had ruled that the issuance of a log ban by President Aquino in February last year did not cover timber cut in the ARMM before the President ordered the logging ban.
In his letter to former ARMM Environment Secretary Usman Sarangani, Environment Undersecretary Ernesto Adobo said the national “jurisdiction as well as our existing guidelines (of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources) with regard to the implementation of EO (Executive Order) No. 23 do not cover the (ARMM).”
Adobo said that the ARMM had to come up with its own guidelines and implementing rules and regulations on EO 23.
At the time President Benigno Aquino called for a nationwide logging ban, ARMM was already implementing its own ban under an earlier order issued by previous ARMM governor Zaldy Ampatuan. This was reaffirmed by a subsequent order issued by his successor, Ansaruddin Adiong.
In the meantime, Sarangani had sought the opinion of the ARMM Solicitor-General if he could allow the transporting of prior cut logs.
In his written opinion, a copy of which was obtained by the Inquirer, ARMM Solicitor-General Pangilamon Mamowalas agreed that both orders and EO 23 referred to the protection and preservation of forest resources and not to trees already “felled.”