LUCENA CITY — Anti-illegal logging operatives seized illegally cut lumber from Sierra Madre mountain in Real town in Quezon province early Wednesday, police said.
Acting on a text message from an informant, combined police and operatives from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) arrested van driver Pepito Gonzales in Barangay Tanauan around 1 a.m.
The suspect’s Kia Besta van was found carrying 53 pieces of freshly sawn “red lauan” lumber with an estimated volume of 718.17 board feet (1.69 cubic meter). The lumber were worth about P28,000.
The vehicle and seized lumber were placed under the DENR custody in the said town for proper disposition.
The Save Sierra Madre Network Alliance, a multisectoral network of groups and individuals working for the conservation and protection of the environment at Sierra Madre said illegal logging has returned in the longest mountain range in the country.