DENR team to probe illegal logging in Caraga

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Heherson Alvarez ordered yesterday the creation of a five-man panel that will investigate DENR officials in the Caraga region following the seizure of about P7 million worth of "hot" logs being transported along the Agusan River.

In an anti-illegal logging drive that started over the weekend, a team from the DENR’s central office led by Alvarez, Undersecretary for Operations Ramon Paje and Director Urbano Pilar, found the illegally cut logs in at least 24 spots from Bit-os, Agusan del Norte to Esperanza, Agusan del Sur.

Sources said DENR executives believe that illegal logging has been going on for years but that the regional office has not informed the central office about it.

It was the information from a concerned citizen in the region about the big shipment of "hot" logs this month that prompted the raid.

DENR regional executive director Benjamin Tumaliuan said illegal logging in Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur began in 1989 but admitted that they could not do anything to stop it.

"I am seeking a thorough inquiry, including into reports that DENR employees in the Agusan provinces were in cahoots with illegal loggers," Alvarez said.

"I have also ordered the immediate filing of criminal and administrative charges against those found to have been involved, including DENR personnel, owners of wood processing plants, financiers of illegal logging and buyers of these ‘hot’ logs," he added.

Meanwhile, the Citizens Log Watch deplored community environment and natural resources officers (CENROs) in Region 13 for the alleged large-scale conversion of logged-over areas into community-based forest management agreements (CBFMAs).

The group cited what it claimed was the anomalous award of CBFMA No. 71019 to the Tanduan Upland Farmers Association in December 2000. The CBFMA’s 288 hectares are within the IFMA 35 of Picop, it added.

This award, the Citizens Log Watch said, violates Section 4 of DAO 96-29 which prohibits the awarding of CBFMAs in areas with existing tenurial agreements.

Like IFMAs, CBFMAs are tree plantation agreements covering as much as 40,000 hectares entered into by the DENR and tree farmers for tree planting purposes.

However, the group said unlike IFMAs which are awarded by the DENR secretary, CBFMAs only need the go-signal from CENROs and provincial community and natural resources officers (PENROs).