Arrest shows logging penetrated protected park

Police have arrested a man for illegally cutting a tree inside the protected Bicol National Park (BNP), which straddles the Camarines provinces, and just a kilometer away from the so-called Mother Tree, considered to be the oldest tree in the region.

The suspect, identified as Avelino Zapanta, was caught in the act of cutting trees inside BNP using a chainsaw, according to a statement by Senior Supt. Joselito Esquivel.

Esquivel, Camarines Norte police chief, said police and officials of environment agencies made the arrest.

Two other suspects eluded arrest, however. Authorities seized cut logs from Zapanta.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Camarines Norte, in a separate statement on Thursday, said logging in BNP had already killed more than P500,000 worth of trees.

In Mercedes, Camarines Norte, authorities seized mangroves that had been cut illegally.

Police said at least P6,000 worth of mangroves were seized in a fishpond in Barangay San Roque.

Operations against charcoal making and logging continued after charcoal production and logging were blamed for deforestation in the province.

In May last year, the DENR in Bicol listed Camarines Norte and Catanduanes as logging hot spots in the region.

DENR said Bicol has 5,430 square kilometers of forested lands and Camarines Norte accounts for 16 percent, or 869 sq km, of the region’s forest cover.