LUCENA CITY—Police seized illegally cut coconut lumber worth P163,000 in two separate operations in Quezon province on Tuesday, a police official said.
Quoting police report, Senior Supt. Rhoderick Armamento, Quezon police provincial director, said members of police 4th Maneuver Platoon were conducting anti-illegal logging operation in Barangay (village) Malinao Ilaya in Atimonan town around 3:00 p.m. when they found an abandoned Isuzu forward closed van loaded with 8,500 board feet of coconut lumber worth P153,000 in the underground market. Local residents told policemen that the driver and helper abandoned the vehicle, escaping
the approaching policemen via the mountainous area there.
A villager identified the driver as one Raymond Tan, also a village resident during investigations. The vehicle and the confiscated lumber were brought to the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) office in nearby Gumaca town.
In Mauban town, PCA field officials and Army soldiers also confiscated on Tuesday an abandoned 1,005 board feet of coconut lumber worth P10,000 in Barangay Polo.
On January 3, the PCA implemented the nationwide suspension of the cutting of coconut trees except in Basilan province and Isabela City, where an infestation of coconut scale insect or “cocolisap” had been reported. The ban will last until the end of March while the agency reviews the implementing rules of Republic Act 10593, which amends RA 8048.
RA 10593 only allows cutting when the tree is “severely disease-infested and beyond rehabilitation” or was “severely damaged” by typhoon or lightning. But like RA 8048, RA 10593 requires a permit from the PCA to cut trees. RAM
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