KIANGAN, Ifugao -- A team from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro) of Lamut raided and confiscated various sizes of illegally cut lumber at the forest area of Sitio Indalmogan, Julongan on April 24 and May 4.
Led by Cenro Dean Baywong, Jr. and Cenro chief enforcement officer Joseph Buccahan, their team, escorted by some military and personnel from the Kiangan Municipal Police Station, swooped down on the forested area which is more than one kilometer below the national road going to the town of Tinoc where a camp of the illegal loggers was located.
There the team discovered illegally-cut lumbers consisting of the tree species Tanguile, Red Lauan, White Lauan and Philippine Oak known locally as “Palayon.”
The team initially hauled 97 pieces of the assorted sizes of lumber with a volume of 1,087.28 board feet (bd. ft.) valued at about P35,000 last April 24 and another 101 pieces with a volume of 897.35 bd. ft., valued at about P32,000 on May 4.
The operation was a result of more than one month surveillance after receiving series of text messages from concerned citizens about rampant illegal logging in the area.
The DENR is recommending an intensified monitoring of the forest zone and watershed area of Julongan, conduct of IEC to the concerned municipal and barangay local government units and to request the LGUs of Kiangan and Hungduan for the cancellation of all tax declarations covering the Indalmogan Forest and watershed areas. (PIA–CAR)