COMBINED operatives of the provincial office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Crime Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) based in Pampanga have recently apprehended premium and alleged illegally sourced lumbers of Narra (Pterocarpus indicus) and Molave (Vitex parviflora) worth more than P480,000.
In a report sent to this reporter by the DENR, Police Staff Sergeant Reynaldo Camacho, member of CIDG in Pampanga, said their agents who posed as buyers were able to buy illegally sawn lumbers to a certain Josemary Limpin in the King and Prince Sash and Furniture Shop in Barangay Remedios, Lubao town.
"The suspect, who also owned the sash and furniture shop was arrested while the illegal cut lumbers, were seized and apprehended in the operation," he said.
According to Laudemir Salac, provincial environment and natural resources officer (Penro) in Pampanga, over 4,000 board feet of alleged illegally sourced lumbers of Narra and Molave were apprehended by combined operatives of Penro and CIDG.
"We are not lowering our guards even during this pandemic but instead we further intensified our anti-illegal logging campaign together with our law enforcement partners to check movement of illegal forest contrabands", he said.
He said the species of Narra and Molave are premium hardwood species because of their excellent wood quality primarily for furniture-making, making these species a favorite target by illegal loggers.
"We are still verifying the origin of this lumber species but definitely it's not from the province," he said.
The DENR-Penro has filed criminal charges against the suspect for violating the Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines (Presidential Decree 705).