THE vigorous environmental protection and preservation efforts instituted by both private and public sectors, including President Aquino’s national greening program, may come to naught if rampant or indiscriminate cutting of trees, endemic or planted, continues if not remains unregulated.
This was the observation of the members of the Bohol Tri-media Association (BTMA) and Kapisanan ng Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP) when they discover the banned indiscriminate cutting of hardwood of molave or Tugas species in the mountain Barangay Amboan, Catigbian where the media had their fruit tree-planting activities.
Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer forester Nestor Canda, who accompanied the media practitioners in the tree planting, said he is now looking into why illegal tree-cutting here was not checked. He said he will call the attention of the Community Environment and Natural REsources Office under him on this development.
Asked if he was aware of the said illegal activity, Barangay captain Juan Palma did not bother to answer to the query. Even residents nearby where the Tugas trees are chainsaw-chopped cannot said a word when asked about it.
About three fully grown and another two not-fully grown were felled to the ground. In one scene, several slabs and small other chunks of sawn Tugas species were still fresh and looked like abandoned, probably the culprits notice that some Special Forces were clearing the area a day before the media had their planting activity.
Reliable sources bared that Bohol is supplying Cebu with cut logs particularly Mahogany and G-melina species for lumber purposes.
But efforts of the law enforcers to quell illegal logging are being intensified. Just recently police officers seized some 200 board feet of cut G-melina logs worth about PhP3,000 in Barangay Pagahat, Alicia town.
Loboc police force and DENR represented by Annie Hilot it confiscated some 256 board feet of endemic “Bangkal†species (23 pieces of 2X6X8 and 27 pieces of 2X2X8) loaded onto Mitsubishi cargo truck driven by a certain Arnold Lapura in Barangay Camayaan, Loboc town said P/Insp Cresente Gurrea, police chief during the Talaayan sa Pulis last week.
He said his force also recovered 20 pieces of sawn coconut trees worth PhP1,200 in Valladolid, Loboc town and anthr 30 pieces 300 board feet of coco trees in barnagya Cambanse believed to be cut without permit. All of those apprehensions presented no documents to support their trade and transporting the logs.
Col. Constantino Barot, Jr., provincial police director, said in his presentation of Oplan Kalikasan (Illegal Logging) accomplishments during the Provincial Peace and Order Meeting last week that a total of 24 cases have been reported with a total of 1,736 board feet of assorted species, three chainsaws and 47 sacks of charcoal were seized and turned over to the DENR for disposition.
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Topic: Illegal logging still rampant in Bohol? (Read 367 times)