Customs turns over seized lumber to Tesda for school chairs

Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon. Noy Morcoso lll/INQUIRER.net

MANILA—To help address a shortage of school chairs, the Bureau of Customs donated 545,000 board feet of confiscated lumber to be fabricated into arm chairs for 45,000 students.

Customs Commissioners Ruffy Biazon said the bureau donated the lumber to the Technical Education Services and Development Authority (Tesda) for fabrication into school chairs.

“The seizures of these lumber materials have definitely affected the operations of these illegal logging syndicates. And I guarantee to all those who may still be thinking of trying this type of illicit trade that the Bureau of Customs will always be here to stop and prosecute them,” Biazon said in a press release.

“The damage caused by these seized illegally cut lumber could be irreparable. Who knows? But nevertheless, we decided to put the seized lumber to better use by donating them to Tesda,” he added.

Biazon said the confiscated lumber arrived in Manila in 68 20-foot container vans from Davao, Cagayan De Oro and Agusan Del Norte starting last year.

Customs officials seized the lumber shipments because they were misdeclared and did not have the required permits from the Bureau of Forest Development and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The hot lumber shipments were misdeclared as animal feeds, scrap iron, banana chips, and abaca fibers and crushed plastics among others. Some were named to different consignees while others had unknown consignees, Biazon said.

With 12 board feet of lumber needed to make one school arm chair, Biazon said, the BOC’s donation of 545,000 board feet of lumber would be equal to around 45,000 arm chairs.

“This will definitely be a good help to our country’s public education system.” Biazon said, adding that the BOC also donated seized lumber to Tesda in 2012.