CAMP PACIANO RIZAL, Laguna—Twelve persons were arrested in an anti-illegal logging operation that resulted in the confiscation of about 100,000 board feet of sawed lumber in Laguna province.
Friday’s operation in the towns of Cavinti, Kalayaan, Paete and Famy in Laguna signaled the start of Oplan B.E.R.D.E. (Boost our Environment Reserves for Development of our Ecosystem), a joint campaign of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Interior and Local Government, Laguna provincial government, provincial police office and the Philippine Army against illegal logging in Laguna.
Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) DENR director Reynulfo Juan said Laguna was identified as a transshipment point of illegally cut lumber from Quezon province.
“These were already sawed or processed lumber supposedly for shipment to Manila,” said Juan, who joined a team that raided warehouses in Barangay San Antonio in Cavinti town.
He said his team’s operation that started past midnight Thursday confiscated 20,000 board feet of lauan, a type of dipterocarp, that suspected loggers abandoned when the authorities arrived in the area.
In Barangay Bulihan in Famy, seven persons were arrested after authorities conducted random inspection of trucks and closed vans, said Senior Insp. Vicente Cabatingan, chief of the Laguna Special Operations Group.
Cabatingan said their team, which started operating at around 5:30 a.m., recovered 13,000 board feet of wood.
“We think this is the biggest confiscation (of hot lumber) so far since President Aquino gave an order to stop illegal logging,” said Laguna police director Senior Supt. Gilbert Cruz.
Aside from the lumber, authorities also recovered 32 power saws, four band saws and six vehicles used in the attempt to ship the wood products.
Cruz said the combined number of the seized lumber is worth around P15 million if sold.
The arrested suspects were brought to the Laguna police headquarters here and will be charged with violations of the Forestry Reform Code.