Fallen electric post helps expose P4-M ‘hot’ lumber

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya — Were it not for heavy rains and strong winds that toppled an electric post, whose live wire struck a 10-wheeler truck, a stash of alleged "hot" lumber worth P4 million could not have been discovered.

Senior Superintendent Ceasar Javier, provincial police director, said the truck was cruising the national highway in Barangay Nagsabaran, Diadi town when it got entangled with a live wire from the toppled electric post.

Truck driver Mario Bayuca and his companion, Andrei Cabalonga, tried to remove the live wire, but they were electrocuted. Bayuca died on the spot, while Cabalonga suffered third-degree burns.

Responding policemen, according to Javier, found the truck to be carrying 15,000 board feet of good-quality lumber suspected to be illegally sawn.

Authorities were still checking if the lumber, owned by an Isabela businesswoman, had the necessary papers.