Illegal loggers blamed for attack on Picop nursery

BISLIG CITY – Illegal loggers and poachers have been blamed for Wednesday night’s attack at the central nursery of Picop Resources Inc. here, which left two workers and a security guard dead.

The wife of one of the fatalities, Felix Corvera, a seed collector, said she was shocked to find her husband dead and the nursery building and nearby areas in flames when she delivered food at about 6:20 p.m.

Mrs. Corvera said her husband was tied to a post, his throat slashed and his body with multiple stab wounds. His co-worker Elias Ybañez and security guard Jesus Cerna were similarly tied up and stabbed.

Responding Picop guards, reinforced by elements of the Army’s 38th Infantry Battalion, said the attackers were dispatched by a syndicate of illegal loggers and poachers in retaliation for Picop’s relentless campaign against them.

The attackers succeeded in completely destroying Picop’s central nursery, the biggest in Southeast Asia and a showcase of foresters in the region.

Burned were Picop’s seed bank and seed lot, where genetic strains of hybrid trees adaptable to the Caraga region developed by Picop over 30 years, were stored. Also destroyed were 60,000 seedlings ready for planting.

Roger Santos, Picop consultant, said it would take two years to re-establish and normalize the company’s nursery operations.

Alfredo Reyes, chairman of Citizens’ Log Watch, said the incident happened at a time when Picop was at the height of a massive campaign against poachers, squatters and illegal loggers within its plantation areas.

The attack came as Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina Jr. urged local officials and barangay tanods in the Caraga region to help the police and the military fight criminality and terrorism.

At the time of the incident, Lina was holding a dialogue with local government and police officials of Agusan del Norte at a hotel and convention center in Butuan City.

Last Monday, about 50 communist rebels torched the heavy equipment of S.C. Pascual Construction company which was doing road rehabilitation work in Barangay Cuyago in Jabonga, Agusan del Norte.

While fleeing, the rebels snatched Barangay Cuyago chairman Florante Ocmen. He was later found dead in Barangay Tag—buaya, also in Jabonga town. — With Ben Serrano