LUCENA CITY — The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and police operatives seized 41 pieces of illegally cut Narra lumber in the seas off Mauban town in Quezon province early Monday.
Ramil Gutierrez, head of the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro) based in Pagbilao town, said in a phone interview that law enforcers intercepted the illegal forest products aboard a raft that was left abandoned by still unidentified suspects near the coastal village of Sadsaran at around 6:15 a.m.
He said the seized illegal lumber, believed to have been felled from Sierra Madre, was worth P75,000 based on the local gate price of P100 per board foot.
Lawmen were still identifying the suspects and determining whether the seized narra lumber originated from the northern Quezon side of the Sierra Madre or from the Northern Luzon section of the mountain range.
Late last month, the DENR and police operative also intercepted 772.5 board feet (1.82 cubic meters) of hot lumber in Tayabas City while being transported aboard a van from Mauban.
Mauban, a coastal town facing the Pacific Ocean, has long been known as a transshipment point for illegal forest products from Sierra Madre bound for Metro Manila and Southern Tagalog provinces.
Activist priest Fr. Pete Montallana, president of the Save Sierra Madre Network Alliance, warned that the Sierra Madre has become vulnerable to El Niño weather phenomenon due to continuing extraction of its resources. CDG
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