House leader urging DENR to ensure full implementation of local log ban
Published Jun 23, 2018 07:25 pm
By Charissa Luci-Atienza
A leader of the House of Representatives is strongly urging the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to review logging operations nationwide and ensure the full implementation of local log ban initiatives.
(Ali Vicoy / MANILA BULLETIN)
Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento, chairman of the House committee on transportation, made the call, as he called on the Lower Chamber to look into the status of pending illegal logging cases in Catanduanes.
"The lack of in-depth investigation on illegal logging cases, of intensified enforcement of forestry laws and of effective surveillance or monitoring result in the continued operation of the illegal logging apparatus, involving the principals or the main personalities and even some government officers and employees, which more or less, explains why illegal logging continues to proliferate in Catanduanes," he said.
He filed House Resolution 1798 seeking a congressional probe on the proliferation of illegal logging activities in Catanduanes and in other provinces nationwide.
Sarmiento expressed alarm over the arrest of two men who were illegally transporting six pieces of Narra lumber and 190 pieces of Red Lauab lumber allegedly from the town of Bagamanoc, Catanduanes, totaling to a volume of 2,178 board feet.
He said the suspects were illegally transporting the logs through a truck with plate number ACO 1386 and registered on April 6, 2017 in the name of a private company.
"The investigators, unfortunately, do not see the need to dig deeper into the case or conduct follow-up operations from the pieces of evidence that were gathered showing the very high probability of involvement of other people, much to the prejudice of the Catandunganons who want justice served on all personalities involved and all illegal logging operations in the province stopped once and for all," Sarmiento said.
He said the recent incident in Catanduanes opens a can of worms in the way forestry laws are enforced in other provinces nationwide.
He noted that illegal logging activities were reported in the provinces of Quirino, Quezon and more than 80 others in Mindanao.
"There is a need to conserve our forests in Catanduanes and in other provinces nationwide and to, once and for all, address the proliferation of illegal logging activities, to address deforestation and other ill-effects and to preserve the benefits the forests give to mankind," the House leader said.
(Ali Vicoy / MANILA BULLETIN)
Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento, chairman of the House committee on transportation, made the call, as he called on the Lower Chamber to look into the status of pending illegal logging cases in Catanduanes.
"The lack of in-depth investigation on illegal logging cases, of intensified enforcement of forestry laws and of effective surveillance or monitoring result in the continued operation of the illegal logging apparatus, involving the principals or the main personalities and even some government officers and employees, which more or less, explains why illegal logging continues to proliferate in Catanduanes," he said.
He filed House Resolution 1798 seeking a congressional probe on the proliferation of illegal logging activities in Catanduanes and in other provinces nationwide.
Sarmiento expressed alarm over the arrest of two men who were illegally transporting six pieces of Narra lumber and 190 pieces of Red Lauab lumber allegedly from the town of Bagamanoc, Catanduanes, totaling to a volume of 2,178 board feet.
He said the suspects were illegally transporting the logs through a truck with plate number ACO 1386 and registered on April 6, 2017 in the name of a private company.
"The investigators, unfortunately, do not see the need to dig deeper into the case or conduct follow-up operations from the pieces of evidence that were gathered showing the very high probability of involvement of other people, much to the prejudice of the Catandunganons who want justice served on all personalities involved and all illegal logging operations in the province stopped once and for all," Sarmiento said.
He said the recent incident in Catanduanes opens a can of worms in the way forestry laws are enforced in other provinces nationwide.
He noted that illegal logging activities were reported in the provinces of Quirino, Quezon and more than 80 others in Mindanao.
"There is a need to conserve our forests in Catanduanes and in other provinces nationwide and to, once and for all, address the proliferation of illegal logging activities, to address deforestation and other ill-effects and to preserve the benefits the forests give to mankind," the House leader said.