THE natural resources department’s month-long operation against illegal logging in Mindanao netted some P9.2 million worth of logs believed illegally cut by “environmental criminals” in Agusan del Sur.

Natural Resources Secretary Angelo Reyes said the contraband—6,588 round logs and 2,816 flitches—were waiting to be towed along the 100-kilometer Adgawan River for delivery to sawmills in Butuan City when discovered.

With the support from the 29th and 30th Infantry Battalion of the 4th Infantry Division, and the Caraga regional office of the National, the department’s inspectors began scouring the winding river from January 17.

DENR officials said they received information about the illegal logging inside the 51,000-hectare ancestral land awarded to a Manobo community in La Paz, Agusan del Sur.

Adgawan River is a major waterway that snakes through Agusan del Sur to Butuan City in Agusan del Norte. The river, whose width can reach up to 20 meters wide, is the traditional transport route for logs, reaching up to four days of travel, for processing in Butuan City sawmills.

He said the modus operandi of illegal loggers is to hide the hot logs by mixing them with documented ones. Department records show that some P4.8 million worth of confiscated logs had been bid out November 30 and December 11 last year in the Caraga Region.

Locally called “sabit” or “kabit,” the practice of mixing documented logs with illegally cut logs has been a major complaint by legitimate wood producers in the province.

The resulting response of the DENR department was a more stringent monitoring but the illegal loggers fought back with abductions and murders of forestry officers.

In February 2003, forest ranger Isidro Roluna was fished out of the Badong River in Tandag in Surigao del Sur. A witness said he was killed by timber poachers while inspecting a forested area in barangay Layog in Tago, Surigao del Sur.

In March, forest ranger Wilfredo Bayucot was run over by vehicles of suspected illegal loggers who crashed through a checkpoint in Butuan City.

MEMBERS of the so-called “Batasan 5” on Tuesday took the issue of extrajudicial killings a notch higher when they met with United Nations special rapporteur Philip Alston, by assailing the government’s inability to stop political killings.

STATE-RUN Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (Psalm) said Tuesday it is set to sign amendment agreements with the World Bank signifying the creditor’s universal consent for the transfer of the debts and assets of the National Power Corp. (Napocor) and National Transmission Corp. (Transco) to Psalm.

THE National Food Authority (NFA) is looking to restructure some P16.5 billion worth of zero-coupon Philippine sovereign bonds it acquired four years ago to free up some P15 billion to invest in farm infrastructure.

5 provinces ‘hot spots’ for illegal recruiters

THE Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) this year will focus its enforcement efforts against illegal recruitment in areas with a high incidence of such activities, a senior POEA official said Tuesday.

DENR seizes P9.2-M hot logs inside Manobo reservation

THE natural resources department’s month-long operation against illegal logging in Mindanao netted some P9.2 million worth of logs believed illegally cut by “environmental criminals” in Agusan del Sur.