Illegally cut logs from Sierra Madre in Quezon province (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/ CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)
LUCENA CITY, Quezon — After a weeklong operation, government forest rangers recovered more than 3,000 pieces of illegally cut logs abandoned in General Nakar town in Quezon province, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said.
Milliarete Panaligan, community environment and natural resources officer (Cenro) based in Real town, said she received several text messages regarding the logs, which were cut from the Sierra Madre mountain ranges and left in the villages of Canaway and Umiray in General Nakar on Oct. 3.
Panaligan said among the recovered hardwood species were red and white Lauan and Yakal.
When DENR personnel reached Sitio (sub-village) Dinigman in Barangay (village) Canaway and Sitio Guindan (sub-village) in Barangay (village) Umiray, they found assorted flitches left on the river banks.
“The flitches were scattered from as far as two kilometers away. [We also found flitches] along the coastal areas and in coconut farms,” said Rexmel Telan, a DENR forest ranger.
Panaligan said the DENR team also found traces of treasure hunting activities along the banks of Dinigman River, also in General Nakar.
More personnel from the DENR office in Real and a team of policemen and Philippine Navy personnel arrived on Oct. 5 and 6 to assist the forest rangers in the retrieval operation.
The logs were sent to the DENR Real office.
The northern Quezon section of the Sierra Madre is considered a hot spot for illegal logging operations.
SFM