Aerial search leads to hot logs

CAMP PACIANO RIZAL, Laguna—An anti-illegal logging task force recovered 5,321 board feet of illegally cut hardwood valued at nearly P270,000, following an aerial search in Kalayaan and Cavinti towns in Laguna.

The municipalities, tagged as logging “hot spots,” serve as the transshipment points of illegal wood products from Quezon province.

Isidro Mercado, Laguna environment and natural resources officer, in a phone interview on Tuesday, said he was surprised when he saw from pictures of the operation that the wood products were about to be transported through the Caliraya Lake.

Mercado, who also chairs the task force composed of the Laguna police, Philippine Army, Department of Interior and Local Government, and the provincial government, said the wood products were recovered near the manmade water body, almost on the boundary of Kalayaan and Mauban in Quezon, after an aerial search on Feb. 12. Maricar Cinco, Inquirer Southern Luzon