Illegal lumber seized in Angeles City. Photo from DENR PENRO Pampanga.
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – More than 4,000 board feet of lumber, suspected to have been poached from the forests of the Sierra Madre mountain ranges, were seized in Angeles City on Aug. 12, according to a belated report from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
The illegally-cut commodity, worth P250,000, were stacked at the compound of Romar’s Hardware Store in Barangay (village) Pandan, according to Laudemir Salac, DENR Pampanga director.
DENR is unable to determine whether the yakal, tanguile and lauan lumber were smuggled out of the forest during the quarantine, Salac said.
The store owner is facing charges for violating the Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines. TONETTE OREJAS