7 Cagayan forest rangers sacked over missing logs

TUGUEGARAO CITY–Seven employees of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) here were relieved over the weekend after they were implicated in the disappearance of confiscated illegally cut logs inside a government depository area here.

The relieved personnel were led by forester Dumon Mabborang, DENR forest specialist, and six of his forest rangers, who were held responsible for the two trucks loaded with thousands of illegally-cut lumber that were stolen by armed suspects inside the DENR’s depository center last July.  DENR operatives intercepted the trucks while transporting the logs in Amulung, Cagayan.

The illegal shipment was eventually impounded at the DENR compound while their suspected owners and shippers were being investigated.

Clarence Baguilat, DENR regional executive director for Cagayan Valley, said that based on their investigation, the trucks carrying the contraband were taken by still unidentified armed men who entered the depository compound, where the confiscated forest logs were kept.

“The armed men took advantage of the isolated area with only a caretaker manning the depository at that time,” he said.

Baguilat, meanwhile, called on the police and Land Transportation Office to help them recover the trucks and the stolen illegally cut logs.