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Thursday, August 25, 2005
Environment office chided on 'hot logs'
By Ben Serrano
Caraga correspondent
BUTUAN CITY -- The regional director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Caraga on Wednesday blamed DENR personnel in Cagayan de Oro for failing to seize an estimated P4 million worth of "hot logs".
The logs, transported using container vans, allegedly came from the Caraga and were later brought to Mandaue in Cebu where these were confiscated last week.
In a radio interview Wednesday morning, DENR Caraga Regional Executive Director Benjamen Tumaliuan even described in jest officials in of DENR in Region 10, which is based in Cagayan de Oro, as "natutulog sa pansitan" (caught unaware) by this logging shipment.
Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro tried but failed to contact the DENR 10 officials for their side on the matter.
Task Force Macajalar (TFM) spokesman BenCyrus Ellorin responded to Tumaliuan's criticisms by questioning why the Caraga regional office failed to coordinate with DENR 10 concerning the illegal logs shipment.
Last week, four container vans containing illegally transported lawaan wood species estimated to be worth between P3 million to P4 million were seized by authorities in Mandaue City after the owners and transporters could not show valid transportation and cutting permits.
Cebu City and Manila are favorite destinations of forest products coming from the Caraga Region, Misamis Oriental, Lanao areas and other parts of Northern Mindanao, which are considered wood and forest product producing areas.
Tumaliuan, however, denied that the seized hot logs were from Caraga Region, particularly from the Agusan provinces, and claimed the wood products were from Misamis Oriental.
Ellorin, for his part, said it is inaccurate for Caraga to point the blame on the DENR 10 office for the failure to seize the illegal logs shipment.
"Alam naman nilang merong (They know that there is an) illegal shipment why did they not contact the regional DENR 10 office. Both of them are to blame for this (mess)," Ellorin said.
Ellorin explained there is a modus operandi in which illegal logs from the Caraga region are coursed through Misamis Oriental.
When caught, those responsible for delivering the shipment would reportedly secure permits from the DENR office in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
The smuggling of wood and forest products, which is done with the involvement of some corrupt DENR and law enforcement personnel, is depriving cash-strapped government of earning revenues necessary supposedly to fund its reforestation campaign.
The call for a simplified, corrupt-proof forest products monitoring scheme has been the clamor of thousands of tree farmers in the Caraga Region.
The tree farmers were said to be discouraged from engaging in tree planting due to the many hassles and told to shift to planting palm oil trees, which are considered agricultural products.
The presence of law enforcers and checkpoints composed of DENR and LGU personnel going after trucks loaded with logs has aggravated the illegal logging problem. (With Stephen Capillas)
(August 25, 2005 issue)
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