A TOTAL of P3.4 million in illegally sourced lumber were seized in separate anti-illegal logging operations of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Bulacan.
The DENR in Bulacan seized 22,000 board feet of hot lumber worth P1.2 million in Baliaug town, which are of premium species, mostly Dipterocarps.
In a separate operation, combined operatives of the National Bureau (NBI) environmental crime division and the DENR, seized on Tuesday, July 16 about 56,000 board feet of illegally sourced lumber worth P3.2 million in a warehouse allegedly owned by a certain Ricky Yu.
The premium hardwood species composed of narra, kamagong, tindalo tanguile, yakal, mayapis and Benguet pine seized from Yu’s property were premium hardwood species composed of narra, kamagong, tindalo tanguile, yakal, mayapis and Benguet pine.
Officials are now filing charges against Yu and other four perpetrators for violating provisions of the revised Forestry Code of the Philippines.
The crackdown on illegal logging also led to a series of raids on establishments selling hot lumber including those located in a village in Guagua town in Pampanga.