P40,000 worth of illegal logs seized in Catanduanes

Gigmoto on Catanduanes Island (Image from Google Maps)

LEGAZPI CITY, Albay, Philippines — Operatives of the Catanduanes Police Provincial Office and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources seized at least P40,000 worth of illegally cut lumber in Gigmoto town in Catanduanes province on Sunday afternoon.

Capt. Efren Paloyo, chief of the Gigmoto Municipal Police Station, said the team recovered undocumented flitches of lawaan lumber with a total volume of 498.32 board feet in front of the house of a farmer, Antonio Tarrago, 57, in Barangay Sicmil at around 12:20 p.m.

Paloyo said authorities received anonymous tips that the suspect had been in logging in the mountainous area of his barangay.

A case for violation of the Revised Forestry Code (Presidential Decree No. 705) was filed against the suspect.

/atm