BUTUAN CITY, Philippines — The shortage of chairs, tables, blackboards and other needs in public schools is being addressed after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) initially donated at least 1,264,417 million board feet of forest products to the Department of Education (DepEd).

The initial donation of wood products will be utilized by the DepEd, and hauling already started to the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) Machine Shop at the Agusan del Sur School of Arts and Trade (ASSAT) in Prosperidad town for the School Furniture Production Program (SFPP) of the DENR, DepEd, TESDA, and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor).

Technical personnel from the SFPP started manufacturing armchairs, tables, and blackboards at the ASSAT compound, in an effort to produce at least 93,972 armchairs that will be distributed to various areas in Mindanao by October.

More wood products, flitches, and logs are set to be donated to the DepEd as documentation process is still being conducted by the DENR in the Caraga Region before officially turning them over to school authorities.

The initial forest products are part of the 2,655,512 board feet of seized forest products under the “total war” against illegal logging operations in various areas in the Caraga Region.

The relentless and no non-sense ongoing drive against illegal logging operation is spearheaded by the DENR, and fully supported by the Police Regional Office 13 (PRO 13), the Army’s 4th Infantry (Diamond) Division, and the 10th Infantry (Agila) Division of the Eastern Mindanao Command (EastMinCom).

The all-out drive against timber poachers, illegal loggers, and illegal wood traders already resulted to the dismantling of 18 sawmills, padlocking and closing of 15 plywood sawmill, plywood and veneer plants, suspension of operations of 19 wood processing plants, confiscation of 42 logging trucks, bancas (river crafts), and motorcycles, and filed several cases in various local courts in the Caraga Region against suspected violators of the Forestry Code of the Philippines.

Meanwhile, DENR Secretary Ramon Paje thanked Education Secretary Armin Luistro for “strongly supporting the government’s campaign to protect and preserve the environment,” adding that Luistro’s issuance of DepEd Order No. 52, strengthening environmental education in all public and private schools nationwide, is “indeed laudable.”

“Your initiative to strengthen environmental education through DepEd No. 52 is indeed laudable. The DENR is heartened by this support, which will surely complement our stepped up efforts to protect the environment,” Paje said in his letter to Luistro.